| Is plain cigarette packaging "profoundly illiberal"? |
By: Rebecca Hubbard
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Posted: Monday, February 20, 2012 3:12 pm
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According to a new report from think tank the Adam Smith Institute, the government's consideration of plain packaging for cigarettes is not only "profoundly illiberal", but also an "unprecedented assault on commercial expression."
The institute, in its report titled: Plain packaging: Commercial expression, anti-smoking extremism and the risks of hyper-regulation, claims that plain packaging will not only have no affect on how many cigarettes are sold, but will instead promote increased counterfeit or smuggled goods, that, in turn, "lowers prices, fuels underage consumption, deprives the treasury of tax revenue and makes an unhealthy habit still more hazardous." According to the institute, "It is hard to think of a policy that could delight counterfeiters more than standardising the design, shape and colour of cigarette packs."
The think tank also feel very strongly about plain packaging's affect on branding and marketing. They say: "It not only tramples on the principles of a free market, but it may also be illegal. Expert opinion, including that of the European Communities Trade Mark Association, the British Brands Group and the International Trademark Association, says that plain packaging is an infringement of intellectual property rights and a violation of international free trade agreements to which the UK is a signatory."
According to the institute, plain packaging is just not going to work, as "focus groups and opinion polls have repeatedly shown that the public does not believe that plain packaging will stop people smoking. Even ardent anti- smoking campaigners do not make such a claim. Instead, activists assert that nonsmokers take up the habit as a result of seeing “glitzy” tobacco packaging." This claim, they believe, "lacks plausibility and is bereft of empirical evidence."
The institute is also weary of the absence of information on the pack if it is to become plain. They state: "Plain packaging is not a health policy in any recognisable sense. It neither informs nor educates. On the contrary, it limits information and restricts choice. It will serve only to inconvenience retailers, stigmatise consumers and encourage counterfeiters."
The think tank also believes that if a law is passed to allow cigarette packaging to become plain, other FMCGs will soon follow suit. "Anti-smoking lobbyists claim that plain packaging will not be imposed on other industries in the future, but this is a hollow reassurance in the light of the accelerating war on alcohol, sugar, salt and fat," says the institute. "What happens to tobacco tends to happen to other products sooner or later. Public health organisations around the world have been applying the blueprint of anti- tobacco regulation to other products for years. Sin taxes and advertising bans are increasingly common for certain types of food and drink, and various campaigners have called for graphic warnings to be placed on bottles of alcohol. It should be no surprise that in Australia, where a plain packaging law was passed in 2011, activists are already demanding that ‘junk food’ be sold in generic packaging.”
If the governnment pass the law, all cigarettes, cigars and smokeless tobacco will be sold in generic packs without branding or trademarks. All packs will be the same size and colour (to be decided by the government) and the only permitted images will be large graphic warnings, such as photos of tumours and corpses. Consumers will be able to distinguish between products only by the brand name, which will appear in a small, standardised font.
Despite a plain packaging law being passed in Australia last year, it is yet to be sold anywhere in the world.
Read the complete report here: http://bit.ly/zf220t. |
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