Studies showed 6-year-olds are as familiar with a cigarette cartoon character as they are with Mickey Mouse, strongly suggesting that advertising causes children to smoke, researchers said Wednesday.
In a series of studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that the Camel cartoon character, known as Old Joe or the "smooth character," is widely recognized by children of all ages.That recognition has led to a sharp rise in the number of teenagers smoking Camel cigarettes, they said.
Cigarettemakers deny they are targeting children and say that brand recognition doesn't mean children are buying cigarettes. But the studies show Camels are smoked by a higher percentage of children who smoke than of adults, researchers said Tuesday.
The editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. George Lundberg, said the studies provide important ammunition for health advocates. "The data on advertising effectiveness shows an overwhelming success in penetrating the illegal children's tobacco market," Lundberg said.
"I believe Congress now will have to act, to protect the public health, by banning the advertising and promotion of tobacco products in all forms."
Cigarettes are advertised heavily in magazines and on billboards; such ads are banned from television.
In response to the studies, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association petitioned the Federal Trade Commission to immediately ban the Camel ads on the grounds that they are misleading and deceptive.
"This campaign represents one of the most egregious examples in recent history of tobacco advertising targeted at children," the groups said.
The Tobacco Institute responded saying, "Recognition of advertising logos or characters does not automatically translate into purchase of the product."
Dr. Paul Fischer of the Medical College of Georgia asked 229 children ages 3 to 6 to match pictures of 22 logos to the products they represented. Ninety-one percent of 6-year-olds correctly identified the character, almost exactly as many as were able to identify the Mickey Mouse logo.
Even among 3-year-olds, 30 percent identified the Camel cigarette character.
CHART: Targeting children?
A cartoon camel used to promote cigarettes is as familiar to 6-year-olds as Mickey Mouse.
Logo recognition rates for the Disney Channel and Old Joe by subject age.
Old Joe the Camel The Disney Channel
Age
3 30.4% 86.1%
4 41.8% 91%
5 73.3% 96.7%
6 91.3% 100%
Source: JAMA\