Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Joe Camel and Friends

I found the accompanying image on the Internet. It was an illustration of the animals which were supposedly gathered for the ark in the familiar fairytale of Noah and the flood. Look closely and you’ll see Joe Camel. Joe Camel was created as part of a marketing campaign meant to hook children on an addictive habit. If one examines this image then certain similarities are apparent.

It has friendly looking animals and bright colors. But the similarity goes much deeper than that. The retail nicotine industry has a financial incentive to hook young people. The retail religion industry also has a financial interest in hooking young people. The retail nicotine industry sells an addictive product which has an overall detrimental effect on society. The retail religion industry peddles fairytales and hits of self righteousness. Like retail nicotine, those products have an overall detrimental effect on society. The cure for both would be amazingly similar – if laws required truth in advertizing then both the nicotine and religion industries would have a much tougher time marketing their wares.

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