R.J. Reynold's Goes Beyond
'Joe Camel' To Tag Youth Market (1996)

      Remember Weekly Reader (the zine of your youth)?  The publication was similar to those printed by Scholastic Press and presented articles for children, and was distributed to elementary schools.

      Weekly Reader has been around for at least 50 years and for most of that time was published by Weslyan University Press.  An unsubstantiated rumor tells me it may later have been purchased by Xerox (or was it IBM?).

      According to National Public Radio, the famed elementary education journal is now owned by none other than good ol' RJR.**

It is alleged that recently they even had the gall to print an article about the tobacco industry and how many jobs would be lost etc. were cigarettes to be outlawed.

      Maybe now that Joe Camel is on hiatus from the world of billboards, R.J. Reynold's will buy the rights to use 'Barney' instead.  Better yet — what with Congress threatening to all but do away with the Corporation For Public broadcasting — maybe RJR will fund Sesame Street! Though cigarette advertising on TV is illegal, I don't see how the FCC could stop Gordon from casually pulling a pack of Salems out of his pocket and offering one to Susan.

     Well, the show is already funded by the Children's Television Workshop — a company which rakes in million$ in product income — including the 'Sesame St. Card,' a phone-card-like device that "allows kids access to stories with Big Bird and the rest of the Sesame St. crew." The card, made by Global Telecommunication Solutions, retails for around $5.

(**Update: In 1999, Weekly Reader was purchased by the private equity investment firm, Ripplewood Holdings. Back to Top)