Mayor Fuming Over Camel Cigarette Ad Campaign

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu usually welcomes national attention of New Orleans, but not by a cigarette company. One campaign ad has him fuming.

The ad that shows Joe Camel in front of New Orleans which actually read "N'Awlins" and other things like "where voodoo queens preside" and "party people get down." Mayor Landrieu doesn't like the campaign at all and so he wrote a letter to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

"There was a lot of aggressive advertising to young smokers and I think that was inappropriate. You know when I was in the legislature, I worked really hard to reduce the cancer rate in the state of Louisiana and especially aggressive targeting to youths for smoking I think is inappropriate, and Camel did that and so we asked them to stop," Landrieu said.

We found some New Orleans residents downtown who really agree with Mayor Landrieu but we found others who really believe he should really be doing some more.

"Cigarettes will kill you. It will kill you. You get hooked on them. You can't get off of them for some reason, I don't know, but I'll go along with the mayor," said New Orleans resident Shirley Hicks.

"I don't that cigarette companies should be advertising about New Orleans without the consent of the city or anything like that. While New Orleans is great for having a party and stuff like that, it's not always the best thing to do, as we're trying to get healthier as a city, as a society and stuff like that," said New Orleans resident Alexander Huseman.

"So in reference to kids stop smoking. Yeah, more power to him. You want to build up revenue. You want to build up tourism for New Orleans pick your poison," said New Orleans resident Kerry Watson.

Some wonder, why he's not going after alcohol companies also picking up on the mardi gras theme, whether it's beer or a bottle of booze to get people in the Carnival spirit.

The campaign was late last year, and we couldn't find any of the New Orleans-themed Camel cigarettes left on the shelves.