Health warnings have bigger impact on smokers when tobacco products are stripped of glitzy brands
Fresh has welcomed a new report from the British Heart Foundation which shows how plain, standardised packs could help cut smoking in the UK in the same way that rates have plummeted in Australia.
Smokers are almost twice as likely to take notice of health warnings on tobacco products when their packaging is stripped of advertising, according to a new report by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). (1)The report highlights how smoking rates fell to a record new low between 2010 and 2013 in Australia.
The BHF’s Standardised Packaging for Tobacco Products report reviewed data from almost 3,000 smokers and ex-smokers to test how effective standardised packaging is as a tobacco control strategy.
The research showed that after tobacco packets were stripped of branding in Australia in December 2012, the number of people taking notice of the warning labels almost doubled.
Just a third (34%) of smokers and ex-smokers noticed the health warnings first in 2010 compared to two thirds (66%) after the legislation was implemented. In the UK, where branded packaging still exists, only 24% of people noticed the health warnings before other aspects such as advertising.
Tobacco products were also found to be significantly less appealing, with more than four in five (82%) Australians saying they did not like the look of tobacco products.
The latest YouGov poll found that 69% of North East adults support plain standardised packs, with only 9% opposing. It also found more smokers nationally support plain, standardised packs than oppose them (37% compared with 35% who oppose).
Support for the new legislation in Australia among smokers and ex-smokers has also almost doubled, rising from 28% in 2010 to 51% in 2013. More than a third (37%) of smokers and ex-smokers in the UK back standardised packaging being enforced here.
Fresh, the BHF and a wide range of doctors, health professionals and charities are urging the UK Government to take immediate action to ensure standardised packaging is introduced before the general election. In the UK, 19% of adults aged 18 or over smoke (3) compared to smoking rates in Australia which have plummeted to a record new low with just 12.8% of people aged over 14 who are daily smokers. (2)
Lisa Surtees Director of Fresh, Acting, said: “We welcome this new report which shows standardised packs are as unattractive as the 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke and the diseases like cancer that smoking causes. We are urging the Government to move now on making cigarette packs less attractive to children.
“Any delay will mean more children will be tempted to smoke and get hooked, with more people dying too young in the future.”
Simon Gillespie, Chief Executive of the British Heart Foundation, said: “The evidence couldn’t be clearer. Stripping tobacco products of their branded packaging means important health warnings have more impact. These are toxic products so it’s vital these messages are communicated clearly.
“Standardised packaging is an effective and important public health measure which is already having a significant impact in Australia.
“There can be no more delay and the UK Government must act now to make sure standardised packaging is law before the election.