Camel Cigarette CollectiblesFor the nearly all of their first fifty years of existence, Camel Cigarettes sat at the top of the marketplace. But a shift in consumer tastes toward filter cigarettes, begining in the late 1950s, led to a slow erosion of Camel's market share. To stem this loss, R. J. Reynolds began one of the most clever and effective campaigns in advertising history. On its 75th anniversary in 1988 a suave, new character appeared in the Camel Advertising: Joe Camel.