The neutral package in 2016 is the flagship measure of the tobacco control plan recently presented by Marisol Touraine. The measure has caused much ink to flow. This is a scientific study published in the journal Tobacco Control which brings grist to the mill of the Minister of Health. As the daily Liberation notes, it shows that the “plain cigarette pack was quickly accepted by smokers after its introduction in Australia in December 2012”.
Concretely, the measure quickly gained followers: after its implementation, its supporters went from 28.2 to 49%, so that the number of defenders of the neutral package (49%) was higher than the number of detractors (34 .7%). The majority of Australians believe that banning any distinctive sign from cigarette packs will reduce the level of addiction, reinforce the idea that tobacco consumption has a negative impact on health and strengthen the desire to quit. However, the strategy does not seem effective among heavy smokers that the measure leaves “skeptics”, notes Liberation. “Support for plain packs has risen sharply among Australian smokers since the policy was introduced, with only a minority of smokers continuing to oppose it,” the researchers point out.
Nothing surprising about that. Moreover, with the plain package, Marisol Touraine targets young people as a priority, who are particularly sensitive to the packaging of cigarette packs. “At the start of their smoking habit, teenagers are not yet loyal to a brand. There is a very playful side, they zap from one to the other according to the packaging, more for their aesthetics”, affirmed recently to whydoctor Karine Gallopel-Morvan, lecturer in social marketing at the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health in Rennes.
Do those convinced of the neutral package take action and quit smoking? According to another study mentioned by Liberation, the answer is yes, since this measure associated with a price increase has reduced the number of daily Australian smokers aged over 14 from 15.1% in 2010 to 12.8% in 2013.
These results should not make us forget that the tobacco companies have not said their last word. In Australia, they have started a legal battle against the state. And in France, tobacco manufacturers have already defined their angle of attack: plain packaging would infringe intellectual property rights. They have already made it known that they intend to claim 20 billion euros in compensation.
