Tobacco Firms Lose Plain Packaging Appeal

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38156770

Good news at last ! Lets get rid of the scourge of tobacco advertising once and for all.

[Prudie]

I'm sure I know just as much about marketing and advertising as you and I can't remember the last time I saw the man in the street smoking B&H either. It was known for its gold packets years back but that really is an irrelevance today. people who start smoking today are probably giuded bt price and then maybe taste. Anything that reduces smoking is a good thing but waving the flag for the change of packaging shows little understanding of what motivates a smoker to choose their brand,

[Prudie]

Apologies for the typos, can't see the keyboard through the smoke :-)

[Orderlimit]

Well said Prudie ^

[mikey4444]

Its all about advertising Prudie !

Smokers tend to gather together, and that is when packets are displayed.

Also, its a complicated issue, as to why people start to smoke in the first place, but its children that we need to discourage. Glamour produced by pretty packaging is only one factor.

A much more important factor though is the sight of adults smoking. I can remember as a child being warned off smoking, but every adult that surrounded me smoked !

Anyway, this latest move will go ahead, no matter what any of us say, so lest see how the stats on smoking looks in a few years time.

[ummmm]

But they aren't advertised. As an adult I very much doubt anyone is persuaded to change brands because they like the look of the pack.

[Mamyalynne]

I don't care what they do to the packaging and if it does stop anyone starting that's great.

What I find more interesting is that you Mikey seem keen to tell all the smokers they are wrong when they state the package is not the thing.

Love the idea of a packet display ritual, sounds like tropical birds, in truth hardly anyone takes a bit of notice.

[Orderlimit]

Mikey, you are wrong, it's not all about advertising. Some thing else needs to be done to eradicate smoking.

[naomi24]

Saints preserve us from the holier than thou - and I don't smoke!!

[DTCwordfan]

Ban sex, too many people go on the job.

Nah - it's interesting to speculate on what the industry is up to, the recent announcement that they can keep the nicotine but lower the poisons by 90 percent....

As long as Cuban cigars are not affected, not that I smoke many of them, but an occasional one.....delish.

[1ozzy]

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/tobacco-kff

I'm not sure plain, graphic pictures and warnings have played a significant part in reducing smoking.

The link above shows the decline in Australian smokers and the initiatives implemented. The graph and timeline at the bottom of the page I find quite interesting.

[Prudie]

Mikey I don't disagree with your last 3 paragraphs but your insistence on packaging and advertising is wrong. I stand with the same 20 smokers every break and lunchtime and I couldn't tell you what brands they smoke if my life depended on it. I can't believe anyone intelligent really thinks smokers hanker after particular packaging.

[Deskdiary]

Naomi – “Perhaps we should go even further and ban advertising and attractive packaging on unhealthy foods products. Obesity is also a killer”.

This wouldn’t work, because as everybody knows fat people are victims and therefore banning advertising and attractive packaging on fat-inducing food would be tantamount to body shaming or be considered a hate crime…….or some other total cobblers, whereas smokers are evil and deserve all they get.

If anybody thinks plain packaging is going to have an effect on sales, then they are completely delusional – it won’t.

[naomi24]

;o)

[EDDIE51]

It is all about stopping children from starting smoking, the addicts will keep on no matter what. It is a matter of pride for kids to be seen smoking the top most expensive brands. Plain packaging will change that, it will at least stop a few from bothering to start and that can only be good.

[EDDIE51]

There was a campaign to force food products to have large labels saying 'warning' high fat or high sugar but so far the food producers have resisted it.