Only logged in members can reply and interact with the post.
Join SimilarWorlds for FREE »

Cigarette Packaging in Europe Vs. United States

All over Europe their pack of cigarettes have pack size photos, many emotional, others graphic that have been proven to actually lower cigarette usage as opposed to our stupid little warning labels. Should we require pictures on cigarette packaging in the U.S.A.?

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

Northwest · M

Yes, our warning labels are wimpy compared to some of the stuff they have in Europe.

I am not aware of any studies that show the difference. This may also be a moot point, as smokers are moving to e-cigs. The latter was meant to help people quit, but its devastating side effect is that it got millions of US mid/high schoolers totally hooked on nicotine. When then can't have their vape, they buy regular cigarettes.

Amicus · 56-60, F

The impact of pictures on the effectiveness of tobacco warnings

Geoffrey T Fong a, David Hammond a & Sara C Hitchman a

a. University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.

Correspondence to Geoffrey T Fong (e-mail: gfong@uwaterloo.ca).

Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2009;87:640-643. doi: 10.2471/BLT.09.069575

Cigarette packages in most countries carry a health warning; however, the position, size and general strength of these warnings vary considerably across jurisdictions.1 Article 11 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the Article 11 Guidelines adopted at the Third Conference of the Parties in November 2008 have put the spotlight on the inclusion of pictures on tobacco package health warnings. Beginning with Canada in 2001, 28 countries have introduced pictorial warnings and many other countries are in the process of drafting regulations for pictorial warnings (Box 1 and Box 2). This paper presents a brief review of the research studies that support pictorial warnings, reviewed in greater depth by Hammond1 and by the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Policy Evaluation Project.2@Northwest

Northwest · M

@Amicus This is a WHO condensation of various other studies. The primary conclusion, is that in countries with a less educated population / lower income, graphic labels provided a benefit. These studies are also dated.

I am not arguing against removing warning labels, I'm just saying that with the wide availability of the Internet, and the proliferation of e-cigarettes / vaping, it's probably not as useful as if the year was 2005.

Amicus · 56-60, F

@Northwest Unfortunately you may be correct about the diminishing efficacy of these ads. I have no data on that.

Northwest · M

@Amicus The study you pointed to does not have it either. It's probably because there's really no way to create an apples to apples comparison. Comparing Australia in 2005 to England in 2003 is Apples to Potatoes.

I do, however, believe the obvious and intuitive conclusion: the more informed people are, the more likely they will ATTEMPT to quit.

Anecdotally speaking, one of the companies with the highest levels of employees quitting smoking, is Apple. Steve Jobs banned smoking on its main campus and refused to allow special smoking areas. The size of the Apple campus meant that you had to walk 15 minutes to get to a spot where you can smoke.