Why plain packaging is the weapon Big Tobacco fears most

Change is needed, and now. One of the most powerful ways to curb tobacco use is to regulate the advertising of its products. And one of the most powerful ways tobacco companies promote their products is via packaging. In the struggle to free our countries of the tragic, costly and unnecessary burden of tobacco use, plain packaging of products is a powerful weapon.  

Plain packaging means the removal of logos, colours, brand images or promotional information. Instead, tobacco packaging features black-and-white or other contrasting colour combinations, and a brand name, a product name and/or a manufacturer’s name. Astride the package’s drab exterior are graphic health warnings documenting tobacco’s adverse effects: desiccated, cancerous lungs, gangrenous limbs and asthmatic children. The net result is a product that is significantly less appealing. 

Australia is the pioneer of plain packaging, and has been enforcing it since December 2012. Plain packaging, in tandem with other tobacco-control initiatives, has seen Australia’s daily smoking rate drop from 15.1 to 12.8 per cent between 2010 and 2013. 

But the measure has so for been limited to high-income countries. This needs to change. While tobacco consumption is on the decline among these countries, the opposite is true inSoutheast Asia, whose countries remain key markets for Big Tobacco, who will fight tooth-and-nail to retain influence and brand loyalty to maintain and expand their markets. The cost of allowing this to happen is immense, and will be borne society-wide. Economies will be less productive, healthcare costs will increase and the tobacco-poverty cycle will be entrenched. 

Children, youth and adults across Southeast Asia continue to be subjected to pro-tobacco messages in media. They also often encounter product advertising at outlets where tobacco is sold. Our commitment to addressing the tobacco epidemic must be renewed. New initiatives must be considered.  

The Seventh Session of the Conference of Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, hosted by India in November, will be an opportunity to do just that. The conference provides an important forum to help fine-tune and enhance tobacco control measures across the region, as well as to discuss and emphasise the utility of plain packaging, an initiative that will only gain momentum. 

Beyond a desire to protect the profit margins of Big Tobacco, there can be no reason to oppose plain packaging. With plain packaging in place individuals will remain as free as ever to consume tobacco products, but will be more empowered to decide otherwise. The psychology of consumption will be disrupted and new patterns of behaviour will emerge. This will help our friends and family live longer, healthier and happier lives. It will also increase economic productivity and lessen the substantial burden tobacco-related illnesses represent to health services and taxpayers.  

Today, on World No Tobacco Day, we must all reflect on the harm tobacco causes and open ourselves to new and innovative ways to challenge its grip over individuals, communities and countries. We must all get ready for plain packaging.

 

Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh is World Health Organisation director for Southeast Asia.