An anti-smoking group has claimed that Camel cigarettes’ new ad campaign appears to target young teenage girls.

In a survey conducted nationwide on teens, about 44% of the girls were able to name a favorite cigarette brand advertisement, their average age being only 15 years. The results of previously conducted surveys showed only about 34-35% girls naming a favorite cigarette advertisement. The noteworthy bit is that the results of the latest survey were almost pointing to the Camel brand.

R. J. Reynolds, the second-largest tobacco company in the U. S., has categorically denied that it targeted its advertisement campaign on teens.

John P. Pierce, PhD, a tobacco trends researcher, and who led the survey, says, “The (tobacco) industry, and Reynolds in particular, is out there doing what they can to get people to start smoking, and they are targeting teens”.

Pierce’s research was backed by funds provided by National Cancer Institute and American Legacy Foundation, an anti-smoking organization.

The advertisements, which began soon after the brand was launched in 2007, ran in magazines like Marie Claire, Vogue, Glamour, InStyle and Cosmopolitan.

Tom Glynn, of the American Cancer Society, says, “Almost 80% of smokers take up the habit before age 18”.

The research will be posted online today on the Pediatrics website.