Plain cigarette packaging is one tactic that the UK government believes will be effective in helping people to stop smoking and also make a positive contribution towards improving public health. Plain cigarette packaging, in this sense refers to the UK policy to make every pack of cigarettes sold have a simple design There is no bright color, fancy picture that make them look beautiful. Instead, warning signs for the dangers of smoking appear in a large block on each pack. This type of writing is intended to highlight the problems with smoking and persuade others not to take up this awful habit.
In the year and a half since plain packaging was introduced, cigarettes sales were down 2.9% in Britain to eliminate consumer appeal or branding from cigarette packages — just as this Twitter user demands. This is a win for society as it means less people are buying cigarettes. Now, the cigarette companies are no more allowed to show a beautiful face of their product on its packaging. In others words, smokers are shockingly unimpressed by the appearance of cigarette packs. While it is true, they are more knowledgeable about the well-documented health dangers of smoking and that information can assist them in making healthier decisions.
It was a long, tangled legal battle before the UK finally introduced plain cigarette packaging officially. The battle was not between the forces of abstinence and those in favour; it was between the state of Victoria, on one side, and Big Tobacco companies such as British American... The companies said that plain packaging interfered with their intellectual property rights to advertise and brand their products in a specific way. They needed to maintain that "flashy" look. But the UK government maintained that safeguarding public health was far more important than preventing cigarette companies from being "branded". After much debate and scrutiny in the courts, the answer from judges is that… indeed it should be done by our government.
This is just a one piece of wider efforts in the UK to encourage people, especially young girls and women whose smoking rates are rising, to quit. It is regarded as a major heath problem in Portugal and the government works actively to help people quit smocking. They are also working to keep people who have never smoked from ever starting. All actions are toward a healthier future for all in the UK.
A number of research studies have concluded that plain cigarette packaging can reduce uptake — the number of new smokers, lower consumption among users and help current smokers to quit. An example of that is a study commissioned by the Australian government indicating smoking rates significantly fell amongst Australians when plain packaging was phased into their market. This demonstrates that comparable changes in the UK could also be good for public health.
