Over the years, anti-smoking initiatives have tried numerous approaches to keeping cigarettes out of the hands of smokers.
Help is available to quit
Big Tobacco fight hard to keep their product selling
But Big Tobacco has always stood in the way, marketing their brands as cool and rewarding, even when they lead to serious health complications and death. However, the fight against Big Tobacco took an interesting turn when Australia became the first country to employ what is known as plain cigarette packaging in December 2012. But, the vital question at hand is still: will plain packaging work?
What does plain packaging mean?
Plain packaging means that all branding is removed from cigarette packages. No colours, no logos, no images, no nothing from the tobacco company distributing the cigarettes. Instead, the packages are only printed with the brand name in a small, standardized size and then massive pictures of people suffering the health drawbacks of smoking are plastered across the package in an almost macabre manner. Furthermore, health warnings and the toxic ingredients are included in the packaging.
Pre-implementation research—such as that conducted by Cancer Council Australia—has shown that smokers generally have a negative response to plain packaged cigarettes and thus are less likely to buy them. But, as Craig Glasby of the Alliance of Australian Retailers points out, “plain packaging hasn’t had any impact on my customers who are smokers and there’s been no decline in my sales since its introduction”. Still, the verdict is far from in; plain packaging hasn’t been on the market long enough for researchers to understand its true effect on the smoking economy.
Smoking is a Habit
While plain packaging is a great idea—a definite step in the right direction—it still doesn’t get to the heart of the matter: that smoking is a psychosocial habit that can only be broken through the power of the mind and will. Packaging can help smokers see that smoking is dangerous, but it can’t help them change their attitudes and beliefs towards cigarettes so that they are no longer dependent on them. Only a method like quit smoking hypnosis can help smokers achieve that outcome—so if you are a smoker, pay attention to the health warnings on plain packaged cigarettes as incentive to give quit smoking hypnosis a try.
Plain packaging won’t make you quit smoking—only you have the power to make yourself smoke-free for good! If you want to find out more about how to quit smoking in as little as 60 minutes, then visit us on Facebook and Twitter and get involved in the discussion.
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