Camel Cigarette Packs to Pay Homage to Williamsburg, N.Y.

NEW YORK -- During the month of January, R.J. Reynolds plans to turn its Camel cigarette packs into an homage to the increasingly trendy Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg. According to NYDailyNews.com, the packs will bear the neighborhood's name along with pictures of the Williamsburg Bridge, the area's iconic lofts and silhouettes of musicians. The neighborhood is one of 10 around the country represented in a campaign celebrating the lifestyle of Camel smokers.

"We believe that [Williamsburg] represents a lot of the belief of the Camel brand," R.J. Reynolds spokesman David Howard said. "It helps illustrate the break-free attitude that Camel is about, breaking free to be your own person."

City officials disagree.

"It's cynical for a tobacco company to launch a branding scheme that tries to exploit the life and energy of our streets to market an addictive product that kills roughly a third of its users," Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said in the article.