The plain truth

July 23, 2011 12:30 am | Updated December 04, 2021 11:07 pm IST

Australia deserves to be commended for becoming the first country to introduce federal legislation that will make it compulsory for all tobacco products to be sold in plain packaging, devoid of trademarks and other marketing features. The Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011 naturally faces opposition from industry on self-serving grounds: that it violates intellectual property and trade rules. Plain packaging for tobacco products is decidedly in the public interest. It is especially welcome because it can enhance the effectiveness of health warnings, discourage people from taking to tobacco by reducing its appeal, and by prohibiting trademarks, remove scope for surrogate advertising. The World Health Organisation underscores the importance of packaging as a key factor in the campaign against tobacco. Further, marketing research shows that as countries move ahead with implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control provisions related to advertising, promotion, and sponsorship, the retail package has become a critical link between products and profits. Governments should, therefore, adopt plain packaging in a big way — as part of their public health strategy.

When India ratified the WHO convention in 2004, it was the eighth and largest country to do so. There is a clear need to strengthen the national initiatives undertaken since then, considering that an estimated 35 per cent of adults use some form of tobacco today. Unfortunately, there is insufficient political will to act. What else can explain the hesitation of the government to introduce new graphical health warnings on retail packaging? In the latest instance, the industry has successfully lobbied for a postponement of a legal requirement to carry stark pictures on the packaging until December 2011. Evidently, carefully designed packaging is vital to this deadly business. Lighter colours on cigarette packs make consumers feel that the product is lighter in strength and therefore less injurious. The Australian law seeks to stop such sharp practices by stipulating that only prescribed colours and finish must be used on all surfaces of the retail package. When this measure goes into force, it will provide insight into the effects of design and packaging on consumer behaviour towards harmful products. Plain packaging should be the goal in India too, but the imperative is to act upon decisions already taken on strengthening pictorial warnings on packages. The central government must not dither on its proposal to introduce similar rules for chewing tobacco, which is indisputably a major killer.

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