Health | UK
Cigarettes will be hidden behind market and shop counters as well as all their packaging stripped of suggestive colours and wording, according to recent UK government white paper. Additionally grotesque images and Anti Smoking propaganda will additionally make its way onto packaging.
This goal is to prevent shoppers from being suggested to smoke by seeing the packages. This could also eliminate children becoming dependent and hooked on tobacco at early ages. Do you think this is true? And will the changing in packaging have an effect on current smokers?
The UK Department of Health has published its tobacco control plan for England – “a series of promises to change the way tobacco products are sold with the aim of cutting the number of the country’s adult smokers by 210,000 by the end of 2015. “
As of now (April 2012) all major markets must conceal all tobacco products and must maintain a non-existent level of advertisements. In not doing so Companies and small Business owners could end up paying Thousands in British Pounds due to fines and face possible imprisonment.
This plan was released in March to coincide with the UK’s national no smoking day. In the document, the government says it will bring in legislation to end tobacco displays in large stores by April 2012 and other stores by April 2015. It also promises to:
This news comes with a tremendous amount of hope in making the UK tobacco-free by 2035 by the British Medical Association.
Health charities are also praising the plan. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) was quotes as saying it is “a victory for public health”. Many other health charities are also praising the plan.
In a statement on the BHF website, Betty McBride, director of policy and communications, says…
But how successful will the new measures be? Could selling cigarettes in plain packs from under-the-counter drawers really reduce smoking rates?
At the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, David Hammond certainly believes this. In a 2009 case study, Hammond and his colleague Carla Parkinson found that shoppers were subliminally influenced by the wording and colors on cigarette packs, which persuaded them into believing they might be choosing healthier brands.
in 2011, Hammond’s team conducted a review of the effects of these images in other countries that have implemented this type of imagery on cigarette packs. Countries such as France, Spain and Canada.
Hammond stated, “if the packs do have images on them, they should be the most grotesque pictures displaying the effects of diseases associated with smoking. This type of messaging is directly speaking to people who smoke; those with cancer-ridden organs, gangrenous limbs and even smokers on their deathbeds. The grosser the better. Subtle doesn’t work,”
And if a smoker isn’t put off by a plain-packaged box of cigarettes plastered in gruesome images, perhaps this verbal warning issued by the packet itself might deliver the nail in the coffin?
-Kyle Marchand
SAY WHAAAAATTT! MMKAY! Do you think this could happen in the US Thoughts?
