Business Notes ADVERTISING

For antismoking crusaders who want to ban cigarette advertising, the Camel ad was a handy piece of evidence. "The most appalling in decades," declared physician Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen, a Washington consumer group. The four-page Camel ad, which was aimed at vacation-bound youths, offered tips like "how to impress someone at the beach: Run into the water, grab someone and drag her back to the shore, as if you've saved her from drowning. The more she kicks and screams the better."

Besides offending women, the ad alarmed health groups because it seemed to give underage readers tips on how to redeem a coupon for free cigarettes. The ad was lambasted last week before the House subcommittee on transportation and hazardous materials, which is considering a tobacco-ad ban. James Johnston, the new chairman of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, has apologized for the ad. Said he: "It will never run again."