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The Hipster Must Die... Smoking These Williamsburg Cigs
By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 11, 2010
Modified Nov 11, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 11, 2010
Modified Nov 11, 2010
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The Camel advertising team has clearly been watching a lot of Mad Men, and is trying so hard (too hard? not hard enough?) to get that thing that Don Draper has. This is actual real-life ad copy for the Williamsburg brand cigarette the company has put out (oh and by the way, there is a Williamsburg brand cigarette, more on that in a sec—first, here's what it's about): “It’s about last call, a sloppy kiss goodbye and a solo saunter to a rock show in an abandoned building... It’s where a tree grows.” As the hipster forefathers would say: alluding to trees growing in Brooklyn is so over.
So, yes, as the Brooklyn Paper reports, R.J. Reynolds has launched a “Williamsburg” version of Camel smokes as part of some sort of promotion featuring 10 cool neighborhoods in the U.S. The Brooklyn box shows the Domino Sugar Factory and the Williamsburg Bridge—where hip pioneers once created a new underground scene, probably whilst puffing away on, well, American Spirits or Parliaments. But Camel is "cool" too, you guys—the company promises you'll earn some "serious street cred" if you smoke these cigarettes, and that Williamsburg's "artistic approach to life meshes with the Camel brand.” Finally, someone gets you. Or as Don Draper would say: "whatever you're doing, it's okay. You are okay."
Hipster: Camel is just waiting to give you a warm hug after a long decade of irony in your now post-ironic neighborhood. It'll only cost you a lung and $12.50 a pack. Hmm, maybe they want you to die.
Tagged
brooklyn
camel
cigarettes
hipster
lung cancer
williamsburg
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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