Plain packaging with graphic warnings on cigarette packages may make smoking less appealing

By Irada Yunusova

In Health classrooms in schools, students are often warned that people smoke because they think it looks cool. Would they still smoke if it looked less cool? What about if cigarettes were sold in plain packages with disturbing images of cancer-affected lungs, rotten teeth, and smoking-induced vascular disease? A recent study suggests that the plain cigarette packaging with graphic warning labels used in Australia may make smoking less appealing.

In 2012 in Australia, plain brown packaging with graphic health warning labels taking up three quarters of the font of the pack began to be available for all tobacco products. On December 1, 2012, legislation requiring all tobacco sold at retail outlets to be contained in plain packs was passed in Australia. Australia is the first and only country in the world to have done so yet.

Researchers interested in the effect plain packaging may have on smokers interviewed 536 smokers in November 2012 in Australia, 72.3% of whom were already using the plain-packaged cigarettes, while the remainder used traditional, branded packs. Plain pack smokers were 66% more likely than brand pack smokers to believe their cigarettes were poorer quality than a year ago. They were also 70% more likely to say they found them less satisfying. Also, plain pack smokers were 81% more likely to have thought about quitting at least once a day during the previous week and to rate quitting as a higher priority in the lives. Such findings demonstrate the extent of plain packaged cigarettes' influence on smokers

Other noteworthy findings indicated that as December 1, 2012 approached, more and more individuals switched to plain packed cigarettes, and their responses came to more closely match those of individuals who smoked from plain packaged cigarettes from the study's commencement. Additionally, individuals who smoked from plain packs were 51% more likely to support the new legislation. It can be concluded that support for plain-packaged cigarettes and for quitting smoking increases with experience with the new product.

The results of this study demonstrate that the effect of plain packaged cigarettes on smokers have a practical as well as a statistical significance. Convincing individuals to quit smoking has been a goal of the plain packaging legislation from its inception, and the findings of this study are encouraging. Perhaps the success of this legislation in Australia will persuade other nations to consider implementing similar measures. The fight against smoking has begun.

Reference: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130722202922.htm