AUSTRALIA’S VICTORY OVER THE PUFF THAT KILLS

5 November 2013 06:30 pm Views - 2216

Well, the Australians failed - almost. The tobacco industry won - almost. Australians became unable to protect their kids - almost. The tobacco industry was able to continue to target children – almost…. but not just.
Despite the high profile, belligerent measures taken by the tobacco industry against the Australian legislation on pictorial warnings on tobacco packs in August 2012, Australia’s High Court dismissed constitutional challenges brought by tobacco companies, awarding costs in favour of the Australian Government. Since then, all tobacco products in Australia are sold in standardised drab, dark green packs with large pictorial health warnings.

Australia’s then Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon had said: “We know that packaging remains one of the last powerful marketing tools for tobacco companies to recruit new smokers to their deadly products. In the future, cigarette packets will serve only as a stark reminder of the devastating health effects of smoking,”

Australia has become a true leader in tobacco-control to the world; a pioneer, an innovator and a trend-setter in the field of saving people. Nicola Roxon is reported to have said that while the tobacco industry is “fighting to protect its profits, we are fighting to protect lives”. It would be injustice if nothing is mentioned about this noble fight, which was a bitter one. It was one in which the people are now clearly emerging as winners. Between 2001 and 2012, the overall rates of smoking have decreased for both males and females in Australia according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The rate of smokers for males fell from 27% to 20% and in females it fell from 21% to 16%.

Among many battles that have been fought in this successful ‘fight to protect lives’ in Australia, two stand out; and they are pictorial warnings on cigarette packs and plain cigarette packaging.
Australia introduced large pictorial warnings in 2006. Now Australia leads the world in the size of large pictorial cigarette packet health warnings, covering 82.5% of the pack (75% of the front and 90% of the back).





Six years later, Australia introduced the world’s first laws on tobacco plain packaging. That means there are no tobacco industry logos, brand imagery, colours or promotional text. Brand and product names are printed in the same small font below large hard-hitting pictorial warnings depicting the true health consequences of smoking.

The Tobacco Industry did not remain silent while these changes were effected. They fought tooth and nail using various tactics. Among them were public media campaigns against the government and legal action at the highest level. However setting a precedent to the world, Australian High Court dismissed constitutional challenges brought by tobacco companies against the legislation.

The ‘fight to protect lives’ prevailed. The Australian government prevailed. The Australian people prevailed.
This is the success story of Australia. A dream comes true for all, especially children. The future of Australia is set. Now let us take a look at the story after the people’s victory of ‘plain packaging with large pictorial warnings’ in Australia: What good has it brought?

Despite the short period of time that has passed since its implementation, remarkable observations have already been made.
Smokers started to complain that the cigarettes now tasted bad. However, cigarette companies denied any change in their production methods. Did this have anything to do with those large pictorial anti-smoking warnings?  There is no mystery – it is simple psychology. The negative emotions created by the large pictorial warning set the stage in the brain of the smoker to expect a negative outcome - a bad taste. This is called ‘priming’. Negative emotions such as disgust, fear and shame are shown to be highly effective in changing the behaviour of people.

"We know that packaging remains one of the last powerful marketing tools for tobacco companies to recruit new smokers to their deadly products. In the future, cigarette packets will serve only as a stark reminder of the devastating health effects of smoking"

The preliminary studies also reported a several-fold increase in the number of calls received by tobacco-quitting services in Australia after the introduction of plain packaging and large pictorial warnings.
The tobacco industry knows about priming and quitting. While the average smoker is completely oblivious as to why his cigarette now tastes worse, the tobacco industry fights against large pictorial warnings on their products. Perhaps the most important protective effect of large pictorial warnings and plain packs is not the motivation created in smokers to quit. It is the anti-priming effect on children to never take up smoking!

 Studies conducted with children and adolescents, who have never smoked or only experimented with smoking have clearly shown that large pictorial warnings have a significant deterrent effect on them. This is tremendously important as children and adolescents are a main target of the tobacco industry.  One out of every two long-term users of tobacco products dies prematurely. Hence the Industry needs to recruit young people at a very early age and at an express rate. One of the best ways to do this is to ‘prime’ children: Prepare their brains for future smoking using positive emotions with attractive tobacco packaging.

This is not very difficult to conceive. All you have to do is to go to any leading supermarket and wait at the cash register. There is an odd contraption looking like a probe sent by an alien planet dangling over the head of the cash register girl - a cigarette pack display.
This display is made to look very attractive. It is made even more attractive with the display of cigarette packs with large colourful images highly attractive to children and adolescents. What a sight! How many customers challenge that dangling serpent? How many customers have told the cashier to take it down?
While you wait till your friend or partner completes the payment, you will look around to see what is happening. Now you would see who looks at this star ship above the head of the cash register girl. It is the children who see it first. They notice everything going on in a Supermarket. You would notice them staring at this dangling serpent as well.

If large pictorial warnings come into effect, what would happen to these dangling serpents? They would be removed!
No more priming of children in Australia. No more teaching children to take up smoking in Australia. That is, perhaps, the real victory that the Australian government can be most proud of, in its fight to protect lives.

“The tobacco plain packaging measure is an investment in the long-term health of Australians,” according to the then Secretary of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, Jane Halton. “It is a crucial part of the Australian Government’s comprehensive package of tobacco-control measures to get tobacco-smoking down to our aim of 10% or lower of the population.”
Well, they seem to be right on track to achieve 10% or lower rates of smoking in Australia with large pictorial warnings and plain packaging. Others can only be envious of them. Or, perhaps not!

While we need to read the colonial history of Australia carefully, we need to appreciate and applaud their short but stinging fight against the tobacco industry.
Long live the Australian fight to protect lives!
Long live the Australian fight to protect children!