Playing to win: Marketing and public policy at odds over Joe Camel

This article is based on the 1998 testimony the author provided for In the Matter of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company as an expert witness for the Federal Trade Commission. After providing an overview of the Joe Camel campaign and the Federal Trade Commission's investigation of it, the author considers consumer protection issues that provide a perspective far assessing Reynolds's acts and practices. He then focuses on an analysis of Reynolds's competitive position in the cigarette marketplace and why that was likely to influence subsequent marketing strategy and the development of the Joe Camel campaign. The author next discusses the campaign at some length before returning to an explicit assessment of the campaign and the types of criteria that might be adopted for this purpose.