Camel Orbs Inspiration for Alchomints (Why not?)

April 20th, 2010. By AbiK

Haven’t sent in the patent app yet, but thinking the tagline—or at least the initial advertising—will include the line, “Get Mintoxicated.” See, I’m putting together a marketing proposal for these little mints (Alchomints!)—each one will pack a punch that’s equivalent to slinging back a mug of beer; that is, about 4-5% alcohol (by volume, based on an average sized mug—the ramped up “Hofbrauhaus High” would launch later as a line extension).

The target audience for Alchomints is anyone who’s come up against those inconvenient “no drinking in public” laws. The brown bag conspicuously twisted and crinkled around the neck of a tall boy just ain’t cuttin’ it and, let’s face it, you look like a total lush gripping your keychain opener as you bolt out of the packaged goods store. Wouldn’t you rather pop a little mint? All the buzz…none of the belch, breath or belly. It’s a sure hit. 

Go ahead and scoff. Call me a moron. Tell me the name “Alchomints” sounds too similar to “Altoids”. Rip me a new one about what would happen if my mints got into the wrong hands.

And let me then remind you of a product launch that started to roll out recently: Camel Orbs.

And just what are Camel Orbs? Well, much like my Alchomints, they’re little pellets that you can pop in your mouth like mints. But, they’re actually made from finely ground tobacco. And they reportedly carry 1 milligram of nicotine per Orb. That’s apparently the amount of nicotine a smoker gets from one cigarette.

Why would someone want to use Camel Orbs? Well, like my Alchomints, maybe someone’s in need of a little nicotine fix when they’re someplace where smoking is a no-no. (Maybe even someone sitting in third period Biology! Ponder that one for a moment…)

And, gee, doesn’t “Orbs” sound like some other innocuous checkout aisle candy or gum—say, like Orbit gum?

Hmm. I wonder if those Camel Orbs could get into the wrong hands, too?

Now, to be fair, as Camel was launching their Orbs in test markets, there was a lot of flak being written in protest. Rightly so. After all, seems pretty clear that something that looks like candy could be mistaken for, well, candy! Particularly by the younger set.

And now, just this week, we hear about a study done by the Harvard School of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The results of the study? That tobacco products that look like mints may be life-threatening for children who mistake them for…candy!

CNN.com picked up the story as well and cited the following from the study:

“…smokeless tobacco products are the second most common cause of nicotine poisoning in children, after cigarettes. The researchers reviewed data from 61 poison control centers and identified 13,705 cases of tobacco ingestion between 2006 and 2008, the vast majority of which were in infants. Smokeless tobacco was involved in 1,768 of the cases.”

And that was before Camel began launching this little enticing version of smokeless tobacco..i.e., before smokeless tobacco looked like…candy!

Of course RJ Reynolds, makers of Camel and no stranger to an onslaught of outrage regarding children as targets of cigarette ads over the years, hid behind the usual defenses: the packaging is child-resistant (give my kids 14 seconds with it—they’ll have it open); the label says “Keep Out of Reach of Children” (yeah, ask any parent—ANY—if their kids have gotten into something that was “out of reach”).

The RJ Reynolds spokesperson, David Howard, was also quoted at cnn.com as saying, “Adults should ensure that children do not have access to any tobacco products—including dissolvable tobacco products.” Thanks for the tip, Dave.

To put this all in perspective, Greg N. Connolly, DMD, director of the Tobacco Control Research Group at the Harvard School of Public Health states in the cnn.com article that “nicotine poisoning can cause nausea or vomiting, and severe cases can result in convulsions, respiratory failure, and even death. Just under 0.5 milligrams of nicotine per pound of body weight is the minimum lethal dose for children.”

Translation: it doesn’t take more than a few Orbs to potentially do some serious damage to infants and low-body weight children.

So who’s the moron now? Me, for suggesting I may want to capitalize on such a nonsensical trend or the geniuses over at RJ Reynolds? This is one marketing innovation that ought to be yanked—the sooner, the better.

Tags: Camel Orbs, CDC, Harvard, Nicotine, Smokeless Tobacco, tobacco

This was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 at 12:14 pm and is filed under Drugs/Medical, Emerging Issues . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.