Camel Ads Affect Teen Girls’ Cigarette Preferences: Study

A new study finds that a marketing campaign for Camel No. 9 cigarettes has a major impact on the brand preference expressed by girls ages 12-16, USA Today reported March 15.

Researchers found that twice as many girls (22 percent) cited the Camel ads as their favorite after the female-focused ads ran in publications like Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Glamour as had done so in surveys conducted before the ads ran. Experts said that brand awareness can lead to smoking in teens.

Brand preferences among boys were unchanged during the same time period.

R.J. Reynolds, which makes Camel No. 9, said the ads are published in magazines where 85 percent of readers are adults, and that the marketing campaign was aimed at adults.

The study was published in the journal Pediatrics.