Grim images finding favour (Image: Richard Hickson/Demotix/PA)

Diseased lungs, gangrenous feet, close-ups of tumours – Australian smokers seem to be adjusting to the gruesome images that cover most of their unbranded cigarette packs, with more now supporting the packaging than opposed.

In 2012, Australia was the first country to make it illegal to sell cigarettes in branded packaging, aiming to make smoking less attractive, especially to young people. The size of the graphic health warnings was also increased.

Before the initiative began, 56 per cent of smokers opposed the change, while 28 per cent supported it. Two years or so later, much of that opposition has gone up in smoke, with 35 per cent against and 49 per cent in favour of it. The strongest support was among smokers who intended to quit.


“The results indicate that smokers are looking at this as a positive thing that has potential to help them quit,” says Ron Borland from the Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, who co-authored the study.

Worldwide precedent

“The study adds to a growing evidence base that will reassure regulators that the sky will not fall if they introduce plain packaging, as the tobacco companies have suggested,” says co-author David Hammond from the University of Waterloo in Canada.

Simon Chapman, a public health professor from the University of Sydney, agrees. “Any forlorn hopes the tobacco industry might have had about convincing other governments that plain packaging is immensely unpopular will be dashed by this study,” he says.

Separate figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that in the first quarter of this year, tobacco consumption was at an all-time low as measured by estimated spending on tobacco products, implying the move to unbranded packaging has had the desired effect. What’s more, the percentage decrease between 2010 and 2013 in the number of people over the age of 14 that smoke at least one cigarette a day was the biggest three-year drop since at least 1991.

European Union member states are considering draft regulations to introduce similar packaging. “Smoking is the greatest preventable cause of death in the UK and there is compelling evidence of the public health gains to be achieved from standardised packaging“, says a spokesperson for the Department of Health in the UK. “We held a consultation on proposals to introduce the regulations and are considering all aspects of the policy before making a final decision”.

Journal Reference: Tobacco Control, doi.org/w3n