NameWire reports that in July 2012, cigarette companies will have to use “plain, logo-free packaging on their cigarettes in a bid to make them less attractive to smokers.”
In place of attractive lettering and designs will be health warnings. The cigarette company brand name will appear at the bottom of the package, in small plain font. This is all the Australian government’s way of reducing cigarette consumption.
Science Direct’s, Daniella Germain writes:
“When brand elements such as color, branded fonts, and imagery were progressively removed from cigarette packs, adolescents perceived packs to be less appealing, rated attributes of a typical smoker of the pack less positively, and had more negative expectations of cigarette taste. Pack appeal was reduced even further when the size of the pictorial health warning on the most plain pack was increased from 30% to 80% of the pack face, with this effect apparent among susceptible nonsmokers, experimenters, and established smokers.”
The World Health Organization wants the rest of the world to follow Australia’s lead. What will that mean for Tobacco Companies in the US? We’ll have to wait and see.
Our hats are off to Australia for this progressive health move!
