Cigarette branding banned in Oz

Larbre34

Australia's highest court has upheld a provision for banning individual branding of cigarette packets by the manufacturers.

A case taken by all the big players in tobacco has failed to overturn the ban, which means all cigarettes will retail in identical plain olive green packets with the brand written in plain text. The Court found it would not be a breach of their intellectual property rights. The judgement is expected to bring on a flood of similar restrictions in other countries, who were watching the case as a test.

So, is this appropriate? A step too far? The Fun police/Nanny state? The next step in the disappearance of tobacco products over 20 years?

charlietheminxx

As someone who has recently stopped smoking after 10+ years, I think this is ridiculous. No-one buys cigarettes for the pretty packets. The packet didn't make me start. The packet didn't help me stop.

WHAT is the point of this? I just cannot get my head around it....

mikom

charlietheminxx wrote: »

No-one buys cigarettes for the pretty packets.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44841559@N03/6034774906/

yeppydeppy

They could put a skull and cross bones on there and call the cigerattes death and us smokers would still buy them!


(Thanks Denis Leary)

ArmaniJeanss

charlietheminxx wrote: »

As someone who has recently stopped smoking after 10+ years, I think this is ridiculous. No-one buys cigarettes for the pretty packets. The packet didn't make me start. The packet didn't help me stop.

WHAT is the point of this? I just cannot get my head around it....

Just because you aren't susceptible to pretty package marketing doesn't mean everyone else isn't.

Enough effort has gone into designing the products (all the purples and swirly writing on packets aimed at the 18-35 female) to suggest that the companies themselves believe people can be swayed into a different brand by such things.

JohnMarston

How easy will it be for the black market to make imitations now? :rolleyes:

shopaholic01

Some brands have feminine packaging (Vogue, I think), some packaging is meant to appeal to kids etc. Of course, smokers only smoke because they like the cigarette packet :rolleyes:.


What next? All alcohol in identical bottles, all sweets and crisps in identical packets?

gobnaitolunacy

Will there be a market for a fag-box version of an ipod cover??

Guill

As a former smoker i think it is great. I don't have a problem with any of my friends smoking and I never nag them, The horrific pictures on the packets will make people think for themselves(ish).

snubbleste

This is fantastic news.
Now if only the Australian/all governments could compel the manufacturers to list the ingredients of the cigarettes on the pack.

charlietheminxx

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Just because you aren't susceptible to pretty package marketing doesn't mean everyone else isn't.

Enough effort has gone into designing the products (all the purples and swirly writing on packets aimed at the 18-35 female) to suggest that the companies themselves believe people can be swayed into a different brand by such things.

Ok even if we take that on board, and it can sway your choice in brand, it doesn't sway your decision to smoke. At all. Did people actually stop smoking when they put the manky pictures or warnings on the box? Course not. You don't even notice them after a while.

Biggins

yeppydeppy wrote: »

They could put a skull and cross bones on there and call the cigerattes death and us smokers would still buy them!


(Thanks Denis Leary)

Someone did: https://www.google.ie/search?q=death+cigarettes&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=UYcrUNDdFtOEhQfD04DQCA&sqi=2&ved=0CFwQsAQ&biw=1440&bih=785

JohnMarston

snubbleste wrote: »

This is fantastic news.
Now if only the Australian/all governments could compel the manufacturers to list the ingredients of the cigarettes on the pack.

There wouldn't be enough space by a long shot. they would need to fold an A4 sheet into the back of the packet

ScumLord

Guill wrote: »

As a former smoker i think it is great. I don't have a problem with any of my friends smoking and I never nag them, The horrific pictures on the packets will make people think for themselves(ish).

They haven't and they never will.

People are fully aware smoking is bad and most plan on stopping, They'll either quit when they're ready or they'll quit when the doctor tells them they have to.

Biggins

Its only a matter of time that we will see a similar process of packaging applied in other countries.
If the law don't allow it presently for some, the law will be changed.

Diapason

I think this will do identically nothing, but the committee members who dreamt it up will sleep easy thinking they've "made a difference".

ArmaniJeanss

charlietheminxx wrote: »

Ok even if we take that on board, and it can sway your choice in brand, it doesn't sway your decision to smoke. At all. Did people actually stop smoking when they put the manky pictures or warnings on the box? Course not. You don't even notice them after a while.

Again you are talking about your own reaction, and extrapolating that everyone is the same.

Personally (also ex-smoker), I found that a handful of the messages would hit home every so often. There might be a rota of 50 messages and I'd laugh uproariously at 48 of them and then 1 or 2 would give me pause for thought.

MrJoeSoap

yeppydeppy wrote: »

They could put a skull and cross bones on there and call the cigerattes death and us smokers would still buy them!


(Thanks Denis Leary)

You don't need to credit Denis Leary when you steal his jokes. He never credited Bill Hicks for most of his.

fionny

Diapason wrote: »

I think this will do identically nothing, but the committee members who dreamt it up will sleep easy thinking they've "made a difference".

It can't hurt though and it might stop some people.

JohnMarston

They have to be seen doing all they can to curb smoking, but at the same time cannot outright ban because of the taxes it brings in.

Duggy747

I would quit smoking but that attractive gold packaging of B&H eyeing me up from behind the counter always gets me.

Olive green should put a stop to that, though. The shackles will finally be off.

They should just have the packaging bright pink with sparkles on it or with a topless picture of your man from Twilight, will turn men off them :pac:

Then to curb wimmen, have that Yorkie bar "Not For Girls" stamped on it to disgust them from buying it.

kraggy

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

You don't need to credit Denis Leary when you steal his jokes. He never credited Bill Hicks for most of his.

Ah, Bill Hicks, the "comedian" who was about as funny as cancer.

tolosenc

I have need to get a lecturing every time I want Nurofen Plus, why on earth doesn't that apply to someone buying tobacco?

Stinicker

I was in Australia 2 years ago and I remember seeing the prices at $15 - $17 a packet or something. I'm not a smoker myself but I think prices over there are far higher.

A few things need to be done in Ireland to curb smoking, increase the taxes on cigarettes so they cost around €15 - €20 a box and each cigarette should ideally cost around €1 each.

All smoking related illnesses should be charged to the patient at full rate in the same way that breaking a hand in the USA might cost you $5k or having a heart operation say $250k, the public health service should treat smokers only if they pay the true cost of it. All private health insurance companies be allowed to refuse coverage on the basis of smoking.

The only way is to tax and legislate smoking out of existence, it is a harmful drug which should not be tolerated by society and should demonized in the same way heroin is. Smokers should be shunned and made to realise that smoking is a lower class thing and something that is neither cool nor intelligent.

fionny

@Stinicker

Couldnt agree more but you will probably get blasted in a second! The its my right to smoke **** will start.

Harpy

yeppydeppy wrote: »

They could put a skull and cross bones on there and call the cigerattes death and us smokers would still buy them!


(Thanks Denis Leary)

I'm prety sure there used to be a brand of cigarette like that, black packet with white skull and crossbone and im fairly sure they were called death..

fionny

Harpy wrote: »

I'm prety sure there used to be a brand of cigarette like that, black packet with white skull and crossbone and im fairly sure they were called death..

http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/everyday_life/personal/1968-2000/TL.0226/

Reg'stoy

Larbre34 wrote: »

Australia's highest court has upheld a provision for banning individual branding of cigarette packets by the manufacturers.

A case taken by all the big players in tobacco has failed to overturn the ban, which means all cigarettes will retail in identical plain olive green packets with the brand written in plain text. The Court found it would not be a breach of their intellectual property rights. The judgement is expected to bring on a flood of similar restrictions in other countries, who were watching the case as a test.

So, is this appropriate? A step too far? The Fun police/Nanny state? The next step in the disappearance of tobacco products over 20 years?

Formula One just got even more boring.

fionny

Reg'stoy wrote: »

Formula One just got even more boring.

Because Cigarette advertising on cars was fun....

ScumLord

Stinicker wrote: »

All smoking related illnesses should be charged to the patient at full rate in the same way that breaking a hand in the USA might cost you $5k or having a heart operation say $250k, the public health service should treat smokers only if they pay the true cost of it. All private health insurance companies be allowed to refuse coverage on the basis of smoking.

Yeah the health service should only be open to healthy people, that'll solve all our problems. That all just sounds vindictive, do you really want people to die just because you don't like smoking? If this was brought in it could easily be extended to people that don't eat the right food or excluding people that do any kind of adventure sports.

fionny

ScumLord wrote: »

Yeah the health service should only be open to healthy people, that'll solve all our problems. That all just sounds vindictive, do you really want people to die just because you don't like smoking? If this was brought in it could easily be extended to people that don't eat the right food or excluding people that do any kind of adventure sports.

If you smoke you are opening yourself to health risks. You cannot get life assurance easily if you were born with a hole in your heart etc... you should not be able to get free care for something you intentionally brought on yourself.

ilovesleep

Why isn't this thread being moved over to the smoking forum?

There was a thread here a couple of weeks back about cigarettes going up to 15 euro a pack by 2015. I didn't get time to reply straight away but when I did a search for the thread, and when I found it it was moved to the smokers forum and then locked over there? What was the reason for moving it over there. The thread would have been added a healthy contribution and discussion to afterhours and moving it to the smokers forum made no sense where many smokers would be biased. I didn't get my say with that.

yeppydeppy

Stinicker wrote: »

I was in Australia 2 years ago and I remember seeing the prices at $15 - $17 a packet or something. I'm not a smoker myself but I think prices over there are far higher.

A few things need to be done in Ireland to curb smoking, increase the taxes on cigarettes so they cost around €15 - €20 a box and each cigarette should ideally cost around €1 each.

All smoking related illnesses should be charged to the patient at full rate in the same way that breaking a hand in the USA might cost you $5k or having a heart operation say $250k, the public health service should treat smokers only if they pay the true cost of it. All private health insurance companies be allowed to refuse coverage on the basis of smoking.

The only way is to tax and legislate smoking out of existence, it is a harmful drug which should not be tolerated by society and should demonized in the same way heroin is. Smokers should be shunned and made to realise that smoking is a lower class thing and something that is neither cool nor intelligent.

Lower class thing? Jebus, what part of society do you come from.
You know the queen of England is fond of a smoke?
You can try and ban smoking if you want but just like heroine and cocaine and hash people will still demand it and someone will supply it.
Prohibition doesn't work - never has, never will.

ScumLord

fionny wrote: »

If you smoke you are opening yourself to health risks.

There is absolutely no way you can totally avoid health risks. Some thing is going to get you. All you can do is manage health risks.

Sitting on a couch every evening watching TV is opening yourself up to health risks. If your going to impose your values on the health service then it should be across the board, anyone that doesn't live the most healthy lifestyle that tries to avoid all health risks should have their right to health care revoked.

Yakult

fionny wrote: »

If you smoke you are opening yourself to health risks. You cannot get life assurance easily if you were born with a hole in your heart etc... you should not be able to get free care for something you intentionally brought on yourself.

Can the same be said with illnesses and accidents caused by alcohol?

Sleepy

Will such militaristic packaging not appeal to young men?

(or am I just watching too much Mad Men?)

Larbre34

Reg'stoy wrote: »

Formula One just got even more boring.

Ciggie sponsors of all events were banned in the EU over a year ago, and the last overt mention of a brand on a racing car must be 5 years ago at least

The former Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro still receive sponsorship from Philip Morris even though there is no longer any mention of the brand in anything the team does

I used to love the lengths the ciggie brands went to to disguise yet maintain there F1 advertising

Benson & Hedges, Bitten & Hisses, Buzzin' & Hornets

Mild Seven , Motor Sport

Rothmans, Racing

West, Mika, David

Marlboro used to just leave on their famous chevron ident