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Cigarette packs will be de-branded
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Australia recently passed a law banning logos on cigarette packs. Now, on the Green Continent, tobacco manufacturers are required to place them in clean packs, without graphic elements.
Some other countries are also considering passing similar legislation, but the process is not going very fast. Perhaps legislators will be convinced by a recent study, the results of which were published in the journal BMC Public Health. According to this study, plain clean packs reduce the attractiveness of cigarettes. Scientists found this out with the help of Brazilian women who took part in the study.
According to statistics, smoking causes 5.4 million deaths worldwide each year and is the leading cause of premature death. Like many other countries, Brazil has banned almost all forms of cigarette advertising, but the issue of marketing tobacco products through their packaging has not yet attracted the attention of local authorities.
The researchers suggested that many brands specifically target young girls as potential consumers of their products and use "feminine" colored packages, fruit flavors and the terms "slim" or "superslim."
Scientists from Canada, the United States and Brazil jointly conducted a study on 640 young Brazilian women. The researchers set themselves the goal of determining whether "women's" cigarettes would be as attractive to girls if these tobacco products were placed in a plain pack, while retaining the brand name and product description.
Women were asked to choose a pack of cigarettes that they could receive for free. They were given a choice between plain packs and branded ones.
Dr. David Hammond from the University of Waterloo (Canada), who led the project, said of the results of the experiment: “Women who participated in the study considered branded packs to be more attractive, stylish and sophisticated than plain ones. They also thought that cigarettes in branded packs would be lighter and taste better. If all descriptions except the brand name were removed from the packs, women’s interest in such a product decreased even more significantly. The results of the experiment showed that women were three times more likely to choose branded packs as a free gift.”
The findings of the study are consistent with previous research in other countries that suggests plain packs make cigarettes less attractive to young people.
"Our findings suggest that plain packaging and removal of branding may reduce the appeal of smoking to teenagers and young adults," said researcher Christine White from the University of Waterloo.
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