Understanding the Culture of Cool: Advertising Camel Cigarettes to Hipsters

Background: The tobacco industry targets the important but often overlooked “hipster” population.

Objective: Describe RJ Reynolds past and current efforts to target “hipsters” with cigarette marketing campaigns

Methods: Content analysis of Camel Wides, No. 9s, and Signature brand campaign advertisements (2006-2007), and analysis of previously secret tobacco industry market research and in-field training documents.

Results: By appealing to youth and young adults who construct their identities through social aesthetic markers, while fueling the cognitive dissonance that allows smokers who are aware of the dangers, social ills, and environmental impact of tobacco (and harbor a degree of emotional investment in these facts) yet still continue smoking, Camel advertising caters to and encourages the image of the nihilistic hipster. By using “Trend Influence Marketing” and the psychological techniques of “Emotional Brand Selling” and “Female Think” to promote cigarettes to social adults under 30, R.J. Reynolds relies on young and cool trendsetters to preserve the manufactured alluring image of Camels in particular and cigarettes in general. RJR attempted to have these marketing strategies perceived, not as overt advertising messages, but as an authentic part of the “hipster” culture.

Conclusions: Grasping the concerns and mindset of trend-setting young adults identifying with the hipster image allows tobacco control advocates to understand the rhetorical, aesthetic, and relationship-building techniques employed by the tobacco industry. These strategies may be re-appropriated against the industry and its seductions.