Do You Believe This Camel?

Level: Grades 5 to 8

Overview

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) is available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.

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This lesson shows how tobacco advertising creates a deceptive image of the consequences of smoking. Students begin by taking a critical look at some tobacco ads that ignore the health hazards and promote smoking as a desirable, fun activity, and compare these ads to mock advertisements that "tell it like it is." Students discuss how tobacco marketers target young people, by deconstructing Joe Camel ads, and debate Canadian laws governing the advertising of tobacco and alcohol.

Learning Outcomes

Students will demonstrate:

an awareness of the strategies used by advertisers to engage consumers
an understanding of the gap between advertising messages and reality
an awareness of how advertisers use different strategies to engage different target groups
an awareness of Canadian laws governing tobacco and alcohol advertising

Preparation and Materials

A good backgrounder to this lesson is Recruiting the Replacement Smoker.

Have art supplies and paper on hand for poster activity

Photocopy or make overheads of the ads below.

And one or more of the following ad parodies:

Perfume Won't Hide It
They Slow You Down
Profits As Seen By du Murderer Ltd.
Utter Fool
Also make an overhead of Camel Comparison
And photocopy the student handout Tricks of the Trade

Procedure

Guided Discussion

Distribute the Tricks of the Trade handout, and review each point.

Ask students:

What do kids want when they start smoking - to be cool or tough, to look older, to lose weight?
What do they get?

Show the cigarette ads, and ask your students:

What is this ad saying?
Who is the target audience?
How do you feel about this ad?
Does it give a "real picture" of what smoking can do for you?

Show the spoof ad(s) and ask students:

What is the message?
Who might have made this ad?
Who is it geared to?
Does it work? If so, what makes it effective?

Place the Camel Comparison transparency on the overhead projector, covering the bottom ads.

In the mid-1990s, Camel cigarettes came under attack by the American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) because they used a cartoon character named "Joe Camel" in their ads. The FTC claimed that this campaign targeted children: its research found that 86 per cent of kids aged 10 to 17 recognized Joe Camel, and 95 per cent associated Joe with Camel cigarettes. The FTC also found that when Reynolds Tobacco began using Joe Camel, the percentage of kids who smoked Camels outstripped the percentage of adults. In 1997, Reynolds Tobacco agreed to stop using Joe Camel in its ads. (Ironically, because of the ban, Joe Camel has achieved cult status on the Web and as a collectible.)

Look at the original Joe Camel ads. What elements in these ads do you think would appeal to kids?
Do you think the publicity surrounding the ban of Joe Camel would increase or decrease the appeal of Camel cigarettes to young people?

Now show the samples from the more recent Camel campaign.

How are these ads different from the old campaign?
How are they similar?
Do you think that these ads still have kid-appeal? What age group do you think these ads target?
When it comes to preventing tobacco marketers from marketing to young people, who do you think is the winner here: the FTC or Reynolds Tobacco? If you were a marketer trying to reach young people, what strategies would you use?

In Canada, advertising tobacco products in magazines is against the law - yet many young people can access American editions of magazines such as Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Spin, People and Vibe, which don't have to comply with Canadian law.

Do you feel that this situation undermines Canadian law? How?
Do you feel that tobacco ads should be banned from all magazines? If so, which ones? If not, what are your reasons?
What kinds of tobacco advertising do you think should be permitted?

Despite the laws regarding tobacco ads, alcohol companies are permitted to advertise in Canadian magazines and on TV. (The logic here is that moderate alcohol consumption will not endanger your health, whereas there is no such thing as "safe" smoking levels.)

Do you think this is acceptable? Why or why not?
Do you think that one, both, or none of these products should be advertised?
Under what conditions would you consider it to be OK for alcohol and tobacco to be advertised?

(Older students might wish to tackle this topic in a formal debate.)

Activity

Ask students to collect and bring to class samples of cigarette advertisements from magazines.
Using the selected ads as a starting point, have students create a series of parody or anti-tobacco ads that they believe would appeal to kids their age.

Evaluation

Student parody advertisements.