Hipsters Can't Resist Camel's "Williamsburg Cigarettes"

The "Williamsburg, Brooklyn" Camel cigarette packs are a hit. Initially derided as "stupid" by Williamsburg locals, the packs, which prominently feature an illustration of the hip neighborhood along with the assertion "It's about breaking free," are now flying out of New York City bodegas.

“I smoke Marlboro, but whenever I see the Williamsburg [Camels] I buy it,” said Abdo Hussein, a worker at God Bless Deli in Greenpoint. “I live in the neighborhood, so it’s cool to have. We’re selling out of them quick.”

---

\n

Other bodega workers report similar results:

Heck, one woman even walks into the N 7 Market on Bedford Avenue and N. Seventh Street every single day to see if any Williamsburg packs arrived, a cashier said. When the packs are around, she buys every single one.

\n

Other locales getting their own Camel packaging include Austin, Seattle, and San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. No word yet on whether those packs are doing as well as their Williamsburg counterpart. But if they do, the lesson is that that even hipsters fall prey to capitalist gimmicks—it's just that their gimmicks slowly kill them.