Conspiracy: Smoke and mirrors
Not your average joe
Few marketing mascots have been as universally reviled as the now-deceased ‘smooth character’ Joe Camel. Castigated for hawking cigarettes to young people, this cartoonish icon found itself in the firing line after the American medical association reported in 1991 that more children 5 and 6 years old could recognise Joe Camel than could recognise Mickey Mouse or Fred Flintstone, Joe kept puffing along till 1997, when he was finally laid to rest. But there may even be more than meets the eye here — and some people (perhaps with way too much time on their hands) say that Joe’s face is in fact supposed to represent the male genitalia, which will … somehow … um … make people smoke more cigarettes? No seriously, this is not made up.
Camel kay andar kya hay?
But that’s just one of the ‘hidden secrets’ of Camel cigarettes. Another is the mysterious ‘man/woman in the Camel leg.’ According to urban legend, the front leg of the Camel on the packet in fact contains a woman standing with her hands on her hips (highlighted and labeled for your convenience). That’s what some people think. Others see a man, the Belgian ‘peeing boy’ and even Mae West! That’s not all … people who seemingly enjoy staring at a pack of smokes also see a leaping lion, a skull and a little dog. Again with the supposed goal of getting people to light up.
The Klan konnection
The Ku Klux Klan - they wear white hoods, burn crosses, lynch African Americans and are inordinately fond of alliteration. But did you know they also sell cigarettes? That’s what some incorrigible conspiracy theorists would have us believe. Some people say that Marlboro cigarettes are supported by the KKK — or the other way around. They justify these claims by drawing people’s attention to the packaging of Marlboro cigarettes. Apparently if you tip a Marlboro cigarette box onto its side, the logo forms a triple K symbol … see it?
Menthol cigarette conspiracy
It has long been rumoured that menthol cigarettes cause impotence. A lesser known conspiracy theory, however, suggests that menthol cigarettes were marketed specifically to African American men in the 1960s and 1970s, in order to hamper their ability to procreate. While it is true that brands like Kool cigarettes did use African Americans in their advertisements quite frequently, this hypothesis is as shaky as the idea that menthols cause impotence in the first place.
Dave’s cigarettes
In what was actually a case of a big corporation trying to hide facts from the public, Dave’s cigarettes were marketed as a cool, alternative, anti-establishment product. The company behind the brand, however, was tobacco giant Philip Morris. This brand was meant to target young people, although focus group testing showed that that if and when young adults did find out that Dave’s cigarettes were actually produced by the Philip Morris Tobacco Company, they felt disappointed and betrayed.
Ciggie facts
Cigarettes are the single-most traded item on the planet, with approximately 1 trillion being sold from country to country each year. At a global take of more than $400 billion, it’s one of the world’s largest industries.
US cigarette manufacturers now make more money selling cigarettes to countries around the globe than they do selling to Americans.
Tobacco was the first crop grown for money in North America. Tobacco even helped pay for the American Revolution against England.
Smokers often smoke after meals to ‘allow food to digest easier’. In fact, this works because the body’s priority moves away from the digestion of food in favour of protecting the blood cells and flushing toxins from the brain.
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, June 19th, 2011.
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