The campaign seeks to capitalize on the hip cachet of the highlighted cities through the names, images and content featured on the packages.
On the Austin pack, for instance, it says, "Name a live show that rocked history--we'll put money that Camel was there. So Camel two-steps [image-nocss] its way to Texas for a Lone Star taste of that independent spirit and all-access pass to the 'live music capital of the world'."
According to The New York Times, the Camel Seattle pack says, "Home of grunge, a coffee revolution and alternatives who'll probably tell you they're only happy when it rains."
The Camel San Francisco pack, according to that report, says, "The Summer of Love, protests to be civil and a rainbow of counterculture. Whether you started here or put flowers in your hair, grabbed a drum and hitched a ride on a painted minibus, Camel lights up this little piece of San Francisco that pulses with the spirit to evolve, revolve or revolt and follows the force to break free.
The Williamsburg-Brooklyn pack, according to the Austin newspaper, says, "Some call it the most famous hipster neighborhood. But it's not about hip. It's about breaking free. It's about last call, a sloppy kiss goodbye and a solo saunter to a rock show in an abandoned building."
"We believe that [Williamsburg] represents a lot of the belief of the Camel brand," R.J. Reynolds spokesperson David Howard told The New York Daily News in a separate report. "It helps illustrate the break-free attitude that Camel is about, breaking free to be your own person."
As part of the new campaign, called the "Break Free Adventure," Camel will be visiting 10 different U.S. locations over a 10-week period. Each week, Camel will release new package designs featuring a new location. Camel website readers, who provide information certifying that they are adults, can win prizes by guessing where Camel will be that week.
R.J. Reynolds said it is following tobacco-marketing restrictions set out by the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA). Under the voluntary agreement, cigarette ads should not "suggest that smoking is essential to social prominence, success or sexual attraction." Also, any healthy looking, attractive people featured in ads should not carry the "suggestion that their attractiveness and good health is due to cigarette smoking."
The campaign has drawn strong criticism from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and other anti-tobacco groups, said the report.
Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Reynolds American is the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco.; American Snuff; Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. Inc.; and Niconovum AB.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco is the second-largest U.S. tobacco company. The company's brands include five of the 10 best-selling cigarettes in the United States: Camel, Pall Mall, Winston, Doral and Kool. American Snuff s the nation's second-largest manufacturer of smokeless tobacco products. Its leading brands are Kodiak, Grizzly and Levi Garrett. American Snuff also sells and distributes a variety of tobacco products manufactured by Lane Ltd., including Winchester and Captain Black little cigars and Bugler roll-your-own tobacco. Santa Fe Natural Tobacco manufactures Natural American Spirit cigarettes and other additive-free tobacco products, and manages and markets other super-premium brands. Niconovum markets innovative nicotine replacement therapy products in Sweden and Denmark under the Zonnic brand.
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