How cigarette design can affect youth initiation into smoking: Camel cigarettes 1983-93

ABSTRACT
Context: Internal industry documents may shed light on how cigarettes are designed to promote youth smoking.

Objective: To determine changes in the design of Camel cigarettes in the period surrounding the "Smooth Character" advertising campaign and to assess the impact of these changes on youth smoking.

Data sources: Internal documents made available through the document website maintained by RJ Reynolds, manufacturer of Camel cigarettes.

Study selection: Electronic searches using keywords to identify relevant data.

Data extraction: A web based index search of documents targeting "smoothness" or "harshness" and "younger adult smokers" ("YAS") or "first usual brand younger adult smokers" ("FUBYAS") in the 10 year period surrounding the introduction of the "Smooth Character" campaign was used to identify Camel related product design research projects. A snowball methodology was used: initial documents were identified by focusing on key words, codes, researchers, committees, meetings, and gaps in overall chronology; a second set of documents was culled from these initial documents, and so on.
Data synthesis: Product design research led to the introduction of redesigned Camel cigarettes targeted to younger adult males coinciding with the "Smooth Character" campaign. Further refinements in Camel cigarettes during the following five year period continued to emphasize the smoothness of the cigarette, utilizing additives and blends which reduced throat irritation but increased or retained nicotine impact.

Conclusions: Industry competition for market share among younger adult smokers may have contributed to the reversal of a decline in youth smoking rates during the late 1980s through development of products which were more appealing to youth smokers and which aided in initiation by reducing harshness and irritation.

Keywords: design; youth; initiation of smoking; Camel

Abbreviations: DAP, diammonium phosphate; FTC, Federal Trade Commission; FUBYAS, first usual brand younger adult smoker; RJR, RJ Reynolds; TSB, two stage blend; YAS, younger adult smoker

RJ Reynolds (RJR) was the leading US cigarette manufacturer throughout the 1960s and 1970s. However, the company's leading brand Winston experienced sales declines beginning as early as 1969 and continuing throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. RJR recognized as underlying this decline a shift in the preferences of younger smokers away from Winston and other RJR brands. During this same time period, Philip Morris grew from 9.5% to 31% of the overall market. This growth was due largely to the success of Marlboro, which had been repositioned during the 1950s and increased steadily in share beginning in 1966. By 1980 Marlboro had become the most popular cigarette among younger smokers, with approximately 40% of the 18 year old market. RJR was faced with not only a challenge for market leadership but also an aging consumer base.

A strategic analysis from January 1981 shows that RJR identified product design issues as a primary reason for this market shift.

"During the 1970s, RJR products and Philip Morris products diverged from each other in product and hence in smoke delivery characteristics. Because RJR's focus was satisfying the full flavor smoker, our products remained high in tar and nicotine with a stronger and harsher smoke delivery and more tobacco taste. In the meantime, PM products, decreasing in tar and nicotine delivery, gradually converted to a product which was milder, less harsh, and with less tobacco taste."

RJR instituted design changes in 1980 and 1981 that were intended to close this product gap, "as key factors contributing to product weakness were discovered in tar, nicotine, menthol, and moisture levels". Camel was repositioned to become the contemporary younger adult smoker (YAS) brand, taking direct aim at Marlboro, and its development was made one of RJR's top priorities. Marketing and product research initiatives directly targeting the YAS market were launched in 1983, influencing changes in Camel products through the remainder of the decade.
Youth smoking prevalence rates significantly increased during the early 1990s. Between 1991 and 1997, 30 day adolescent prevalence rates rose from 28% to 36%. Although initiation rates (those who have ever tried smoking) continued to decrease throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, prevalence of daily cigarette smoking increased at all grade levels among the classes of 1989, 1990, and 1991.

Prior analyses have linked this increase in prevalence to marketing and advertising. The introduction of the Camel "Smooth Character" marketing campaign in 1988 may have influenced this rate increase. Youth market share increased more significantly for Camel than for other popular youth brands (Marlboro, Newport) during this period. Joe Camel (Smooth Character) advertisements were also the most popular advertisements named in a 1993 adolescent survey. However, internal industry studies suggest that marketing campaigns, though successful in initiating occasional use, do not translate to increased market share for products that do not appeal to consumers. An analysis of the young adult marketed brand Magna is instructive: in this case, "[t]he brand successfully generates higher levels of occasional use but these smokers are as of yet unwilling to adopt MAGNA as their usual brand". This is attributed in part to "negative product perceptions lingering from trial prior to product improvement".

Transformation of Camel cigarettes into a brand favored by youth may have required product changes supporting increased initiation and uptake. Product changes would be anticipated to coincide with introduction of the Smooth Character advertising campaign. The research presented in this paper was prompted by the question of what product design changes, if any, may have influenced the uptake of youth smoking prevalence and increased brand market share for Camel in the period surrounding this campaign. Internal industry documents were used to gain insight into the effects of product design changes on Camel cigarettes and to understand the possible impact on youth smoking.

METHODS
This study examines design changes in Camel cigarettes for the five years before and after the introduction of the Smooth Character advertising campaign (1988). A preliminary, web based (index search of documents targeting "smoothness" or "harshness" and "younger adult smokers" ("YAS") or "first usual brand younger adult smoker" ("FUBYAS") provided an outline set of Camel related projects, including projects YAX, TSB, XG, and ZX (all grouped in the years preceding the campaign) and projects RU, SS, and EW (after the campaign). A snowball methodology was utilized: documents were targeted using relevant indexed keywords (for example, smoothness, harshness, perception, youth, product, design, blend, consumer, etc) and documents related to the projects identified above. The initial documents provided a secondary list of names of researchers, management, committees, and weekly and monthly committee meetings. Untitled documents were located using the identifying Bates number. Documents were reviewed for keywords, codes, or projects. Finally, the relevant documents were ordered chronologically and a search was performed for all Camel related documents in those month intervals that appeared as gaps in the overall chronology. The final set of relevant documents catalogued for this study number approximately 1000. Two researchers reviewed and analyzed this final study set.

RESULTS
Importance of FUBYAS
RJR underscored the importance of the YAS market for the future of the company in a 1983 analysis: "Appeal to younger adults is critical for long term brand growth. Brands that attract 18–24 year olds grow in total. Brands losing appeal among younger adults decline in total." Among the YAS segment the most important group was the YAS choosing a first regular brand, called the "first usual brand younger adult smoker" (FUBYAS). In 1974, RJR had turned its attention to the process by which younger smokers choose an initial brand for regular use with a memorandum titled "What causes smokers to select their first brand of cigarette?". The memo observed that more than half of all male smokers begin smoking before the age of 18 years, and 95% begin before the age of 25. Selection of a first brand for these younger smokers gravitated towards market dominant brands such as Marlboro and Kool, perpetuating share growth. The origins of this brand dominance appeared to be based on "...influential young smokers (perhaps relatively few) [who] have made brand selections based on product characteristics or advertising and promotion communication." These observations, suggesting that successful appeal to first time smokers will in part reflect product characteristics, anticipated RJR's decline in market share throughout the 1970s due to products that failed to appeal to younger smokers.
Further research by RJR in the late 1980s supports these findings: “All major brands in the cigarette market in the last 50 years successfully attracted FUBYAS”. A successful first brand produces dramatic growth through its ability to attract young smokers who remain loyal to the brand over time and significantly increase consumption as they age. This was most famously true in the case of Marlboro: "Marlboro's dynamic growth is due solely to its gains as a successful first brand which significantly overcomes the net switching losses that the brand incurs." Other successful major brands were shown to have followed a similar pattern, including Pall Mall, Winston, Kool, and Newport. "There have only been five major cigarette brands which benefitted from the FUB dynamic during the past 50 years. In fact, FUBYAS played some role in creating all the major brands that have developed in the business." In each of these cases market dominance was first established among YAS, which then translated to dominance in the greater market. As these brands lost touch with the YAS market, their share gradually diminished.