The proof is in the packaging. Making all cigarette packets look the same reduces the positive feelings smokers associate with specific brands and encourages quitting, Australian research shows.
The findings come ahead of the UK and Ireland introducing plain tobacco packaging in May.
Australia was the first nation to introduce such legislation in December 2012. Since then, all cigarettes have been sold in plain olive packets with standard fonts and graphic health warnings.
The primary goal was to make cigarettes less appealing so that people would not take up smoking in the first place. But an added bonus has been the number of existing smokers who have ditched the habit.
Between 2010 and 2013, the proportion of daily smokers in Australia dropped from 15.1 to 12.8 per cent – a record decline. The number of calls to quit helplines also increased by 78 per cent after the policy change.
Hugh Webb, et al. Smoke signals: The decline of brand identity predicts reduced smoking behaviour following the introduction of plain packaging, Addictive Behaviors Reports, DOI: 10.1016/j.abrep.2017.02.003
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @07:18AM (3 children)
The "Plain Packet" experiment proves that smokers are Dumb Fucks.
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Monday February 27 2017, @07:50AM (2 children)
Confused.
I'm a smoker, in Australia and I didn't quit, in spite of would-be-horrendous plain packaging.
This makes me a dumb-fuck or not?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @08:46AM (1 child)
If you're not addicted but your health is badly affected and/or you're not actually enjoying it then you're a dumb fuck.
If you're addicted and your health is badly affected and/or you're not actually enjoying it, then you're fucked.
If you were warned about this before you got yourself addicted and got fucked then you're a fucked dumb fuck.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday February 27 2017, @09:41AM
Cool. A bit incomplete (the case of "addicted, enjoying it and badly affected" is missing) but seems correct.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Monday February 27 2017, @07:23AM (8 children)
Mandatory insertion lawn clippings into the mix would probably help. Later to be replaced by pieces of shredded recycled tires.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 4, Funny) by ShadowSystems on Monday February 27 2017, @07:46AM (2 children)
My mom got so sick & f'ing tired of my dad's smoking that she gave up trying to talk him into quitting & started resorting to sabotage.
Filling them with bits of plastic shavings, nail clippings, cat/dog urine, soaking them in vinegar, anything that would alter the taste to make him gag up a bowel in disgust.
When he pointed out that her actions were costing us real money in wasted cig purchases, she countered that HE was wasting it by buying them in the first place.
The day he fell asleep in his chair with a lit cig in his mouth & ended up setting a hand made crocheted afghan her mother had made on fire was the last straw.
Mom threatened to punch him in the face every time she saw him with a cig between his lips then phone the cops to report "an arson attempt by my deranged ex husband".
When he pointed out that he was still married to her she retorted "You won't be if I catch you smoking again under my roof."
Dad didn't stop smoking, he merely stopped around the house, & mom didn't stop her sabotage either.
I figured he'd give up when she started dunking them in his coffee mug filled with cat piss, microwaving them until the pee boiled over, then stuffing the still hot mug in the freezer.
How could he stand the taste/smell of that nasty, nauseating combination?
Easy, he had his "real supply" stored in his work truck & left the decoy in the house for mom to maul.
*FacePalmSigh*
If you wonder why I'm a freak all I can say is that this nut hit every branch on the way out of the tree.
But at least I'm smart enough not to smoke!
=-)p
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday February 27 2017, @07:57AM
Good for you, stay this way, it's safer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Monday February 27 2017, @07:41PM
I used to just flip them upside down any packet I could reach.
I was amazed by the number of people who have so automated their toxin intake, that they don't realize what they're doing until after they light the filter...
A single one, out of many, did thank me for making her check the packet every time, which was the first step to cutting down by half.
Most of the others likely called me an ass.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday February 27 2017, @07:52AM (1 child)
No, it wouldn't in my case. I'd start to grow and prepare my own tobacco instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Funny) by anubi on Monday February 27 2017, @10:48AM
When I read the topic, it reminded me of a prank I pulled on my uncle, who would smoke his pipe in our house while visiting, which mom did not take kindly to.
I was about 12 years old at the time.
I got a hold of his bag of pipe mixture and adulterated it with a rubber band, which I spent quite some time with a pair of scissors cutting it up into tiny, tiny, tiny pieces.
My uncle always lit the thing up after dinner during the post-dinner card game. I thought it so funny to watch my uncle so carefully filling and tamping the pipe bowl, so precisely preparing it for use, only to suck the flame from the lighter down into it, and erupt in cascades of spitting and sputtering. It was a few seconds before everyone else gathered around the card table got wind of what the problem was.
Remembering that got me laughing again, so I posted it to be funny. I am pretty sure ground up old tires would not pass FDA as a suitable smoking deterrent...
Hope no one took me serious.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Monday February 27 2017, @11:51AM (1 child)
Actually, I have smoked for many years - and I enjoy the taste and flavour of what I smoke. Sorry if that doesn't fit the narrative - but there's a good chance that for most smokers, the flavour is a significant aspect of what keeps them smoking.
Having said that, I would have been happy for cigarettes to be made illegal at any point - basically make it impossible for me to buy them, but that was too hard for the politic! I quit a few months ago using a mix of Zyban (spelling?) and willpower as I stopped way before the drugs kicked in - day two actually - and haven't looked since then.
I would encourage anyone who smokes to take a week or two off on holidays, have a prescription of Zyban ready to go, your GP can help you with that, and a small circle of friends to support you during the first two weeks - you will become a complete CUNT on Zyban - but it will help you quit, then you get off Zyban, stop being a cunt and no longer smoke! Means to an end if there ever was one. Personally, I would kiss the feet/ass of the person that invented it for the change it has made to my life.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @04:25PM
There's no other way to interpret "I would have been happy for cigarettes to be made illegal at any point - basically make it impossible for me to buy them".
(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Monday February 27 2017, @08:22PM
Adding junk into the Plain Packets will not lead to smokers quitting. It will simply mean that smokers have to resort to deep packet inspection and filtering done in userspace. It is a form of increasing the costs of smoking. But it will not stop smoking.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @07:38AM (5 children)
The tobacco companies really flipped out about the Australian packaging. This tells us that they know that loss of lifestyle marketing hurts them dearly.
Think about how Virginia Slims are marketed to a certain kind of woman, and Newports to a certain kind of black, and so on. That camel on the Camels, the Marlboro man... all of it is about getting you to buy into an image about your lifestyle, either real or what you aspire to. Much of modern marketing is done this way. You can especially see it in beer, vodka, cars, and even coffee. Yes, coffee: are you a Starbucks person or a Black Rifle Coffee person?
Without the lifestyle branding, the customers just shop by price and many won't even bother. The feel-good effect of having that lifestyle image rub off on you is gone. The company's brand loses value. Efforts to advertise the brand do not offer payback if there is no brand loyalty coming from a lifestyle image.
The tobacco companies fought it so hard, even quietly breaking the law. They put unexplained tiny holes in the cigarettes, different for each brand, in an attempt to evade the restrictions. They got busted on that one. They desperately want their brand with lifestyle marketing.
The graphic health warnings are a nice bonus, but not as important. Sadly, the US supreme court killed them here. Oddly, the warning passes muster -- the court decisions are looking pretty arbitrary. Good warnings show harm to sex appeal especially, and to a lesser extent children. They also change often.
My big fear is that "big pot" is forming right now, ready to get us with lifestyle marketing. Maybe we can cut it off while legalizing pot for real. The continued lack of enforcement in some states (we fought a civil war you know -- states can't opt out of federal law) is allowing pot companies to get branding off the ground. There will be a pot brand for every demographic you can think of: southeast Asians, lesbians, Trump voters, Muslims, stock traders, stay-at-home moms, retired people, veterans...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday February 27 2017, @08:35AM (1 child)
Not in my case, I'm not sensitive to this. I won;t deny others may be/actually are, but I'm beyond it.
Or by both price and quality. No, branding and lifestyle doesn't matter to me, just the quality that can be afforded at the price. The bnrand? Just an identifier for me - make/model in a car analogy.
How I define quality? Simple, the beans and way of preparation ending in a product that my taste buds/nose enjoy means quality for me (and the coffee they serve at starbucks or "gloria jeans" - another francise downunder - does not qualify for quality; thus I'm not a coffee-branded person).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday February 27 2017, @06:50PM
Sure, people that wanted it anyhow will buy it anyhow.
But branding matters. Why do you think McDonalds is the most popular restaurant chain in the world. The quality of their food? The prices? There are better and cheaper options. Often both. It is branding.
I used to think that this kind of branding was kids stuff, that the cigarette and beer marketing was targeting kids. But no, adults are mostly just as stupid as kids. Even old people go for marketing and branding.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 1) by Weasley on Monday February 27 2017, @04:42PM (2 children)
Of course they fought it. A company selling any product would fight it. What company would want their product sitting on a shelf with their competitors with everyone in plain white packing with black letters saying what's in the box: Cereal, Coffee, Pickles...etc.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday February 27 2017, @09:55PM (1 child)
Even plain white packaging, with plain black letters on the box, can be made to differentiate.
Plain
Extra Whitening
With Baking Soda
With Peroxide
Extra Whitening with Baking Soda
Fresh Mint Taste
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by caffeine on Tuesday February 28 2017, @12:31AM
In Australia cigarettes packets in the shop have to be hidden from view. Usually behind a door or screen.
The font face, size and colour is also mandated to make it hard from them to work around the rules.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Hairyfeet on Monday February 27 2017, @07:45AM (9 children)
Make vaping cheaper and easier, simple as that. I smoked nearly 2 packs a day for over 25 years and I tried everything, patches and gums and pills...no joy. Then after my dad died from COPD my youngest got me a vaping kit for Xmas, its been 4 years now without a single cigarette and I have gone from 24mg nic all the way down to 6mg and will probably go down to 3mg when my new tank and mod comes in next month.
I gave my doc permission to show smokers my x-rays to show how big a difference switching to vaping has done to my health (he says my lungs look like a non smokers now), I can breathe now, don't get winded anymore or sick easily like I used to, my clothes no longer are covered in a nasty film or stink and in fact its now the opposite, the wife insists on picking the vape flavor when we ride together as she likes the smell of the fruit vapes. I've turned several of my smoker friends onto vaping and so far we're talking 75% success rate which is a hell of a lot better than I've seen with any other smoking cessation aid, so all in all I'd say if you want smokers to quit? Vaping is the way to go.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by TheRaven on Monday February 27 2017, @09:31AM (7 children)
Advocating vaping now sounds a lot like people a hundred years ago advocating smoking to cure a cold. Vaping definitely can be safer, but a load of vaping fluid contains some truly horrible stuff (benzine, for example) that is known to be carcinogenic. Your lung x-rays will look better, because you will no longer be building up tar in your lungs, but you're still inhaling a lot of carcinogens unless you're really careful about what you vape. It's going to be a good 5-10 years before we have a large enough sample set to see what the long-term health effects actually are.
sudo mod me up
(Score: 4, Insightful) by black6host on Monday February 27 2017, @01:41PM
I agree with what you say. That being said the key words are "harm reduction". Vaping is widely accepted as not being as bad for you as smoking.
Even if it is, though, there is another way. Vape to get off cigarettes and then quit vaping. I gave up cigs 3 years ago, and gave up vaping 1 year ago. Vaping made it easy for me to quit and I was a long term multi-pack a day smoker. Quitting vaping was even easier. Just kept lowering the nic levels and one day my coil burned out and I was too lazy to make another :) End of vaping.
I admit a lot of people don't want to quit vaping once they start but it can be used to give up smoking and nothing forces you to continue to vape. Vaping was a great tool for me and now I'm not doing either. Purpose served.
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Monday February 27 2017, @03:02PM (2 children)
There's a great saying in recovery circles that you should know about: "Progress, not perfection."
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Monday February 27 2017, @04:23PM (1 child)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Tuesday February 28 2017, @04:26PM
"the amount of carcinogen consumed probably goes up as well."
Definitely a [citation needed] on that one.
Thankfully, I am very clean and very sober! Hooray for water and trail mix!!!
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @04:52PM
Vaping fluid does not contain benzene. It consists of propylene glycol, nicotine, and flavors. If your vaporizer is malfunctioning, it may turn some of those chemicals into benzene, but it would have to be operating at higher than normal temperature.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Hairyfeet on Monday February 27 2017, @05:59PM
Except every test run so far by uninterested parties have shown them to be much MUCH safer than other cessation aids, especially the pills like Chantrix (look up how many people have died on that shit, its literally killed dozens because they go batshit and attack people) but sadly thanks to "fake science" you now have to check the results to see 1.- Who paid for the science, 2.- Who are they affiliated with, 3.- Does the person that did the science beholden to any groups or does work for any lobbyists. Its really no different than how the big oil companies can hand you all these "studies" that say we can dump endless levels of crap in the air and never affect the planet, if you spend enough money you can get a group of scientists to say the earth is flat and show you math that supposedly backs this assertion up.
But luckily its quite easy to vape safely, ready for the secret? DO NOT BUY CHEAPO CHINESE CRAP....tada! And you would think that would be common sense, I mean for God's sake we are taking about a country where they have had all kinds of "fake food" scandals with everything from chalk in baby formulas to eggs that literally had not a single organic component in them, you are gonna buy stuff you put in your lungs from these guys? Oh fuck no! Buy your coils and tanks from China (as long as its a reputable vendor) but leave the juices to the states!
Of course this is why we are having to fight the lobbyists, because I USED to be able to go to my local vape shop and actually watch my juices being made so I knew EXACTLY what went into them....no more, thanks to RJ Reynolds there are no more vape shops in my town and 2 of the 4 shops I used to buy from online have likewise closed. Hell look up what they recently passed in CA thanks to big tobacco its now CHEAPER to smoke cigarettes in CA than it is to vape! I'm sorry but to make a substance which numerous studies from reputable medical groups like Johns Hopkins and the British Institute of Health have shown to be safe more expensive and harder to get than the thing which every study for the last half a century has shown without a shadow of a doubt causes cancer and COPD? Is just batshit insanity and shows sadly how for sale our laws have become, now it doesn't matter what the science says, all that matters is you can grease the right palms while handing over some "science" as fake as anything produced by big oil like the "formaldehyde study" that even the author renounced because it was fake (they took a $2 gas station tank that hadn't been sold in years and hooked it to a $400 mechanical mod and cranked the voltage so high the plastic melted, we're talking over 500 degrees f) and you can get any laws passed you want. This is why we are having to hire our own lobbyists to grease those same palms which is just fucking sad but welcome to the USSA where its all about how much money you can throw at those in power.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday February 28 2017, @11:26AM
There is NO benzine in vape juice (that is another fake science article, paid for by big tobacco) as again before the big tobacco laws you could watch it being made in most vape shops and it is vegetable glycerin or VG (used in donuts and candy sprinkles sold to kids) and propylene glycol or PG (used in asthma inhalers for over half a century) and food flavoring. Most vape juices don't even use PG in juices that aren't simulating tobacco as PG is used to simulate the "throat hit" associated with cigarettes. In my own vape cupboard the only juice with PG is my RY4 (hazelnut tobacco) while all my candy and fruit vapes are 100% VG and food flavorings.
Just remember when you hear "OMG they found X in (insert vaping product)!" you have to check the source, big tobacco is a billion dollar industry which sadly gets a lot of support from southern states that grow tobacco so we are seeing a LOT of fake science articles. Luckily they are easy to spot now that we know what to look for, as when you ask questions like "What is the device tested? What was the juice? Where did it come from? Who made it? What was the watts and volts used?" questions that any researcher should be able to answer if they have done an actual study? What you will get in return is either insults or more often silence.
The formaldehyde is a perfect example, when the "researcher" actually released the data (which he promptly renounced) he had taken a $2 tank that you can't even hardly find in the states anymore (a CE2 from 2011) that was made during a time when the MAXIMUM wattage you could possibly get was 6w (most then were "cigalikes" that only produced 2w-3.5w) and then placed it on a $400 "mech mod" which is a device for expert vapers with NO safety features that fell out of favor with vapers a couple of years ago and are increasingly hard to find because most shops won't carry them (as today's regulated mods can do the same high wattage while having built in safety features which would have stopped his "results" from ever occurring) and then took the little 3w max tank and cranked it to the maximum 400w. Well no shit he found formaldehyde in the vape, those that tried to recreate his experiment had the tank literally melt!
So sadly like fake news you simply cannot take anything you read today at face value without asking some serious questions as big tobacco also owns several large food brands and with their advertising budgets can get the mainstream media to highlight any "study" they come up with, no matter how fake. I mean I'm sure you heard about the formaldehyde, it was even on Good Morning America (which had a multimillion dollar advertising contract with Nabisco which is owned by RJ Reynolds Holdings) but did you hear about how the test was performed or that the researcher denounced it? I bet not. That is the world we live in, where anybody with enough cash can have any "fact" broadcast without question. Its fucking sad but that is why we have to fight, otherwise these big corps will just keep pushing "studies" that say black is white and up is down and too many will fall for it because their favorite celebrity "reporter" says its so. Remember they did the same in the 80s with "cigarettes don't cause cancer" studies and big oil and fracking groups crank out "study" after study saying dumping chemicals in the water table and air? Nah thats just fine and dandy....yeah and pull my left leg, it plays jingle bells.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 1) by radu on Monday February 27 2017, @03:20PM
nearly 2 packs a day for over 25 years
Same for me. I quit about 6 month ago after (while) reading Allen Carr's "Easy Way".
It really works and it is much better than trying with patches, gums, pills, vaping, etc. I just stopped and that was it. Easy as in the book's title!
For everybody here still smoking (or vaping or whatever having to do with smoking/nicotine): just read the book!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @07:49AM (1 child)
Granted, the big tobacco companies are mercenary bastards like any other corporation.
Smokers incur health risks, as do drinkers, drug users, the promiscuous, over-eaters, and practically any other pleasurable vices you carer to mention.
That said, smokers who are considerate of others and understand the risks have two fingers in the air to the nanny state.
(Score: 2, Funny) by nitehawk214 on Monday February 27 2017, @06:53PM
Then why do you care about the branding on your cigarettes?
Perhaps it is because now you won't look quite so cool with your plain white packaging.
Protip: Smokers are not the cool crowd anymore and haven't been for a long time. They are now the whiny bitchy crowd like you.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @01:44PM (3 children)
As long as I'm still able to get the correct brand, they can do whatever they want with the packaging. Every now and then I'll get something other than American Spirit, and while I'm sure there are other good alternatives out there, everything compared to that brand is disgusting. I suppose I could say that American Spirit is only not disgusting enough that I smoke it.
I have my excuses, and I use a vaporizer at home. Nicotine is a good way to deal with stupid unnecessary workplace drama. It's a stable job, but none of the other positions really are (my responsibilities are fundamentally different, being a nerd dweeb type). Holy shit can you not avoid the shit that goes on even while just trying to gather basic requirements.
I'll quit smoking once the invisible hand gives me a way to move out of flyover country. I've tried to quit nicotine all together several times, and the workplace drama is always what pushes me back. If nicotine patches weren't so expensive (I'm guessing so that they can soak health insurers, go figure), I would just use those.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @02:05PM (1 child)
Nicotine being one of the least unhealthy aspects of smoking, I'd definitely suggest perhaps looking into some alternatives beyond the patch. Part of the trick seems to be to avoid smoking cessation aids and instead look at things like lozenges, snus (dear god make sure to get something like General or one of the scandinavian brands; the American options were utterly pointless and terrible), or as others have suggested, vaping (snuff and dip of course are options, and while being reduced harm, they're generally more problematic than options I mentioned...and besides, dip is gross). Often this can be done while saving money, and in some cases, give you the ability to have your nicotine most anywhere you feel like.
Swedes have one of the lowest cancer rates in the world. Not because they don't use nicotine, but because they get it from snus, not cigarettes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @04:59PM
Thanks! I suppose I hadn't cast my net wide enough. Lozenges may work well. I didn't know what snus was (had heard of snuff), so I looked it up, and I'll keep it in mind.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Weasley on Monday February 27 2017, @04:54PM
Stop smoking aids like patches and lozenges are expensive bullshit. They're sold on the premise that delivering the same addictive chemicals into your body by some other way besides smoking will somehow help you become unaddicted to the chemicals you continue using. It is bullshit. The way to quit is to just stop doing it. I know, easier said than done. But then, the success rate of stop smoking aids is just as abysmal as going cold turkey.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by corey on Monday February 27 2017, @10:07PM (1 child)
Also the government has been hiking the tax on cigarettes year on year and its now about AU$40 (~US$30) for a 25 pack. I have family who worked out they were spending almost a couple of grand a month for the household on ciggies. They have given up and bought a new ute with the savings. Feeling a shit load better too.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/tobacco-tax-rise-comes-after-cigarette-prices-soar-343-per-cent-in-20-years-20160504-goltel.html [smh.com.au]
(Score: 2) by arslan on Monday February 27 2017, @10:33PM
Yep, my anecdotal experiences of smokers around me are the same, the price hikes are probably more significant to the stats than the plain packages.