Camel No. 9--launched in February and clearly aimed at women with a sleek back box and the slogan "Light and Luscious"--is drawing criticism that it is aimed specifically at teens, college students
and 20something women who are not smokers but vulnerable to the message of sophisticated chic.
Marketing consultant Mary Lou Quinlan says the Camel No. 9 ads seem designed with younger
women in mind--from the magazines they're placed in to the visuals they use. And the box, she says, looks just like a little black dress.
There is also the view that R.J.
Reynolds--which contends that it is attempting to attract established adult female smokers from other brands--is simply doing its job. "I'm totally anti-smoking, but a marketer's job is to market, and
a customer's job is to decide what to buy," says Marian Salzman, executive vice president at the J. Walter Thompson ad agency.
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