R.J. Reynolds Drops Joe Camel From Ads -- Character Was Anti- Tobacco Target

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Joe Camel, the jazzy cartoon character blamed for luring kids to smoking, is being retired and replaced by staid Old Joe.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco has used the cartoon Joe since 1988. Starting next week, the ordinary, more lifelike camel seen on the cigarette-pack label will be used on billboards, the company said today. It will reach magazines in August.

Joe Camel was expected to become extinct following the proposed settlement of state lawsuits against the tobacco industry. The deal would ban use of cartoons or human figures in tobacco advertisements.

Anti-tobacco activists and the Federal Trade Commission claim Joe Camel was designed to lure young adults. The FTC says Camel cigarettes were used by less than 3 percent of smokers under 18 before Joe Camel's rebirth in 1987; in 1993, 13 percent of those smokers used the brand.