Pictures showing gross feet and rotting teeth on cigarette packets are no longer shocking enough to prompt people to quit the habit, and warnings should focus on cost, experts say.

Health authorities needed new ways to encourage people to quit, Mr Drovandi said. ( ABC News: Nic MacBean )

A James Cook University team surveyed 900 people, including non-smokers, smokers, pharmacists and students in Townsville, Rockhampton and Brisbane, seeking their views on current cigarette warning labels.

Nearly 60 per cent thought the warnings were ineffective in getting current smokers to quit.

Only 27 per cent of people surveyed thought the labels were effective in preventing non-smokers from taking up the habit.

Survey author Aaron Drovandi said while many people thought the warnings were still a good idea, smokers were no longer shocked.

"They get used to seeing them. Some people will try to hide the packaging just to not look at the warning," he said.

"Some people will request a warning which doesn't apply to them, for example someone who doesn't have kids would request packaging with a warning with the sick child on it because they can distance themselves from what the warning intends to do.

"People were saying, 'yes they might have initially affected me when I first saw them, but they don't bother me, I don't even register them anymore'."

Smoker Aaron Cramond (L) and reformed smoker Glen Davies (R) said people were used to the shocking pictures. ( ABC News: David Chen )

Smoker Aaron Cramond said he took no notice of the warnings.

"I don't even look at them, couldn't tell you what the picture is half the time," he said.

"All I look at is the name and how full it is, I've seen all the pictures."

Glen Davies, who has quit smoking, said many people had grown accustomed to the warnings.

"I think they were more of a novelty picture and people going 'look at that'," he said.

"No-one ever thinks that's going to happen to them when they smoke ... nobody wakes in the morning and thinks that's going to happen to me.

"They stick their cigarette packets in cases, tobacco in pouches. It's not seen and you can't see it behind the counters anymore because it's all behind a roller shutter, so there's nothing visual when you go to buy them."

Some of the examples of cigarette packaging, unveiled by the Federal Government in 2011. ( Supplied )

'People care more about money than health'

Mr Drovandi said the findings suggested health authorities needed to come up with new ways to encourage smokers to quit the habit.

"What we currently have in Australia, which is the set of rotating warnings, I think we need to increase the rate at which we do that, developing new warnings and rotating them," he said.

"Also trying to think of novel ways of reaching out to people explaining the risk of smoking in ways they haven't come across, that might try to trigger more of a response than the current packaging warnings which have had their effectiveness reduced over time."

He said people who took part in the survey thought individual messages printed on cigarettes could be an effective strategy.

"The message, 'Smoking one pack per day costs over $11,000 per year. What could you buy instead?' struck a chord," he said.

"A lot of people indicated that they care more about the money than their own health.

"The other one that rated highly was a cigarette with a time scale printed down the side, measuring the number of minutes of life lost from smoking the cigarette."

The results from the survey will be shared with the Cancer Council and Lung Foundation Australia.