About 30 members of the Dartmouth community have decided that Joe Camel is not an appropriate role model for children -- and they're going to do something about it.
The group of mostly undergraduates and some alumni is working through The C. Everett Koop Institute to create an anti-tobacco film geared toward children called "Tobacco Never Dies," a parody of the most recent James Bond movie, "Tomorrow Never Dies."
Adam Mirick '99, the group's director of marketing, said the film will be a 40-minute, three-dimensional, animated feature geared toward students between the ages of 10 and 13.
"It's a prevention message," Mirick said. "It really pushes home the message that smoking isn't glamorous, sexy or cool for pre-teens."
Mirick said tobacco companies spend about $3,500 to attract each new smoker, and a lot of their marketing is targeted toward children. He said cartoon characters such as Joe Camel have been successful at convincing children to smoke, so the group thought animation could prevent children from trying cigarettes.
Monica Wilkins '99, the film's director, said, "It has a lot of humor, it's really funny and fun, and it doesn't really stress the science of smoking and anti-smoking. It's not 'beating-you-on-the-head' sort of amusement.
"The animation is incredible -- you don't see stuff like this ever on educational videos," Wilkins added.
Josh Nelson '92 is the film's art director and lead animator. He said the Koop Institute has done various World Wide Web projects in the past, and decided video would be the best for reaching its audience.
"One of the things that we found was that video really speaks to the masses, more so than Web pages, even at this point," Nelson said. "Animation really speaks to a wide variety of people, and it's very hot in the entertainment world right now."
Nelson said the group is breaking new ground by combining entertainment into an anti-tobacco message.
The characters in the movie are based on those in "Tomorrow Never Dies."
James Bond is replaced by "Nick Free," and "Smoking Joe Moose" is the antagonist Elliot Carver and a parody of Joe Camel. Wai Lin, the Chinese secret agent, is changed to "Wu Yan," which means "tobacco-free" in Chinese. "Fall-Down Brown" is a teenage boy -- not based on any specific character in the Bond film -- who wants to be a secret agent and act as a force for good.
In the plot, Smoking Joe Moose has developed a new, highly addictive cigarette to introduce in the Chinese market. He aims for that market because it is the most populous, giving Smoking Joe Moose the potential to addict as many people as possible, Mirick said.
The three other characters in the film try to stop Smoking Joe Moose from distributing the cigarettes. Fall-Down Brown -- the character with whom children are meant to identify -- makes observations about the negative results of smoking.
"The end market is going to be for schools, where they can show it in the classroom along with integrated lesson plans," Mirick said.
Nelson said the project goes "hand-in-hand" with C. Everett Koop's anti-tobacco agenda. An animated version of Koop will make a cameo appearance in the video and will discuss the scientific aspect of smoking, speaking with Koop's actual voice.
"He's not involved day-to-day, but he's definitely aware of what's going on and has given his blessing, so to speak," Nelson said.
The film is expected to be complete by mid-June, and should be available in schools by the beginning of the 1999-2000 school year.
