Poor ol' Joe Camel can't get a break.
Today, a total of eight busy-body attorneys general have filed lawsuits claimin' Reynold and Camel violated the Master's Settlement Agreement with a big ad campaign in Rollin' Stone magazine. It's all the usual suspects of California, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Maryland, Maine and Washington.
Y'all can read about it
here,
here, and
here as well as about a zillion other places on the web.
So what's all the hub bub about? Camel has already pulled the ads down but thanks to the health nuts over at the Campaign fer Tobacco Free Kids we can still check them out.
Personally I don't see a thing wrong with them, but then again I still can't abide that them government folks made Reynolds drop a perfectly good spokescamel like Joe.
But here's the argument the government types and the health nuts are makin'. It all revolved around that big Master's Settlement Agreement.
Fer them folks that don't remember that's the big lawsuit that allowed local governments to sue the tobacco companies so they could fund important projects
like buyin' golf carts fer local courses and government subsidies of tobacco producers.
See the problem is this. Accordin' to that agreement Reynolds sent Joe Camel packin' and vowed never to use cartoons in their advertisin' again.
Well shoot, there may be a couple of cartoons in those ads but it ain't like they got Shrek and Donkey sharin' a pipe or somethin'. Perspective people. That's all I'm askin' fer.
People are losin' focus in this whole debate. Y'all need to ask what these ads are really about.
Music, my friends, music. Independent grassroots honest to goodness music.
Clearly Reynolds has shown they're a company with a big heart and - I'm sorry maybe I just ain't cynical enough - but to me the only thing Camel wants to do is support the arts.
I mean it's in Rollin' Stone. Ain't that one of them newspaper magazines fer music types? Why else in the world would a company like Reynolds possibly want to advertise in a magazine that caters to a musically inclined hip crowd between the ages of 18 and 24 with a modest disposable income?
It's all about the music.
And, I'll be frank, I'm not sure I like the idea of a bunch of city slicker attorneys general tryin' to deprive kids of music.
Did we learn nothin' from Mr. Holland's Opus!?!
America the time has come to put the breaks on these music hatin' health zealots. Like it or not, kids are gonna smoke.
And do you really want them kids to smoke while they're listenin' to corporate bubble gum pop?
Camel is providin' our youth with a choice. Givin' our kids the opportunity to smoke while listenin' to their favorite undiscovered new rock alternative.
And choice is what America is about my friend.
Kudos to Camel. Yer talkin' a beatin' but yer doin' right by our future customers...uh...I mean...kids.
