This is how PR works. It's all that fucked up kind of sneaky stuff. The four-page foldout Camel cigarettes ad in the 40th anniversary issue of Rolling Stone isn't the worst of the worst; it's more bizarre than anything.
If you didn't hear about it or see it, there's a gigantic 4-page pull-out ad in the November issue of Rolling Stone that's called the "Indie Rock Universe," featuring a solar system of cool bands who wear black converse that was also an ad for the now out-of-service "The Farm" website, where you could stream the bands in the ad. Of course, it was all really just a big ad for Camel cigarettes.
Is it as bad as when Edward Bernays christened cigarettes "torches of liberty" and handed out free packs to suffragettes in order to make them popular amongst women? Or astro-turfing?
Not really...
BUT, several different parties are pissed for several totally understandable reasons.
So far, nine State Attorney Generals have sued R.J. Reynolds (company who owns Camel) for violating the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between 46 states and tobacco manufacturers, which includes a ban on using cartoon images to advertise tobacco, of which the Indie Rock Universe ad is guilty. Because of the violation, which R.J. Reynolds claims they didn't know the ad would take cartoon form, the company faces up to a $100 million fine.
Not to mention the fact that the majority of the named-dropped and streamed bands were never asked permission.
In reaction to this, R.J. Reynolds, as mentioned above, has shut The Farm website and has halted all Indie Rock Universe advertising. Not only that, but due to continued pressure from anti-smoking groups to have the company stop print advertising entirely, R.J. Reynolds has announced it will not advertise in magazines and newspapers at all in 2008.
The use of indie culture for corporate gain is really nothing new, (remember this?); the creepy part is that one of these ad geniuses is probably somewhat "in the know," even though there are some fuck-ups (Spoon is from the Northwest?). For the most part, it's completely packed with self-referencing music geekness, along with the fact that some of the bands listed have done tours sponsored by Camel. Of course, this gets into the tricky debate over whether or not accepting corporate money signifies anything positive about the relationship between art and commerce (assuming they can be truly separated).
But that requires a whole discussion in and of itself.
