Old cigarette ads were powerful tools that persuaded entire generations to purchase little paper sticks filled with tobacco and then burn them. Anything that will persuade a consumer to buy a good and then simply set it on fire and buy more when she or he has burned up all the items bought is worth looking at. Yet when it comes to the old cigarette advertisement which still has a certain allure today - a day and age in which we know beyond a reasonable doubt that smoking is a health hazard - it may even be a bit of survival instinct that has many psychologists taking a second look at old Camel cigarette ads.

Generally speaking, old cigarette advertising played to the old value system of the society at large, while on the other hand enticing that very same society to embrace the allure and hidden mystique of new experiences. Old cigarette advertisements that we are most familiar with depict the outdoorsman, the cowboy, a figure which is so quintessentially American that nothing can come even close to rivaling this compelling imagery. This old cigarette advertisement showed man subduing nature, being in charge, being rugged and strong, and rewarding himself with the taste of tobacco.

It played to the need for masculinity, and generations of chicken breasted, glass wearing boys have fallen for the old cigarette advertisement and thought that the purchase of the cigarette would somehow give them that air of manliness that they felt was missing from their lives. The same is true for the bullies and the rebels who saw the very same old cigarette advertisement as a form of validation to their claims of manly behavior and thus smoking the thusly advertised wares was only an extension – albeit a visible one - of an already existing feeling and attitude. It is interesting to note that this old cigarette advertisement held an allure for men of any age and stage of machismo, and the same is still true today.

On the flipside are the old Camel cigarette advertisements that enticed those swept up in the Victorian Egyptology craze to have their own taste of the exotic far off land - the dromedary, the pyramids, and the palm trees gave off an image that spoke of forbidden experiences, striking locals, and mystic understanding. While this imagery today is largely lost on the audiences, the metamorphosis of the dromedary into Joe Camel sought to resurrect the allure of the old ad, but while it was a clever advertising tool, it went to show that the exotic experiences of yesteryear do not weather the decades nearly as well as the old time values.