Party Is Over for Camel Promo

Shaken, stirred -- and thrown down the drain.

A cigarette promotion that urged college-age consumers to mix exotic drinks and “go ‘til daybreak” ended abruptly Wednesday after R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. bowed to complaints that it could encourage irresponsible drinking.

Since January, the nation’s second-largest tobacco company has been mailing a Camel cigarette brand promotion to people as young as 21 containing six drink coasters. The coasters carried cocktail recipes and boozy exhortations such as “Kiss your worries goodbye.”

The campaign drew complaints Tuesday from state attorneys general -- including California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer -- and from distillers who said it encouraged irresponsible drinking and could target minors.

Reynolds executives have said the company sent the gift package only to those who had identified themselves as smokers. But on Wednesday, the company said it would drop the campaign, which had been scheduled to continue through April.

In a two-line letter faxed Wednesday morning to Maryland Atty. Gen. J. Joseph Curran Jr., Reynolds senior counsel James H. Beckett wrote that “upon careful reconsideration, the beverage coaster program has been discontinued” and that “no further mailings will be processed.”

Company spokeswoman Maura Payne says Reynolds still disagrees with the attorneys general. “However, we just decided upon reflection that this was a relatively small piece of the Camel campaign, and it wasn’t worth continuing to disagree with them.”

Lockyer said he was glad to hear of the company’s decision.

But he said Reynolds “has consistently pushed the envelope” by marketing to minors in violation of the 1998 settlement reached with the states.

Because of this history of “corporate recklessness,” Lockyer said, his office will monitor the company’s actions to make sure it follows through.