I find it very interesting to see how what is acceptable in advertising changes through the times. You don't have to look too far back in history to find examples. The Camel cigarette advertising campaign featuring Joe Camel definitely helps to illustrate this point. This 10-year ad campaign ran from the late 80's to the late 90's, and had a tremendous impact on advertising in the United States.
These ads promote Joe Camel as a cool character. The artwork really does a good job of grabbing your attention. The controversial part of this series, was that these ads were very appealing to children. The bright colors and cartoon characters are hard to ignore. At one time, children of that era could recognize Joe Camel as easily as they could recognize Mickey Mouse.
Because of public uproar against this series (and threat of legal battles), RJR eventually ceased running Joe Camel advertisements.  This set a precedent that causes companies to now think very carefully about how their advertising may be seen to affect children. It makes this series a very important part of advertising history. The only place you're likely to ever see Joe Camel again is in vintage advertisements like these.

Check out the rest of our Joe Camel Cigarette Ads.

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