Voted in the Health Law which was adopted at the end of December 2015, the neutral packet of cigarettes is taking its first steps in France. From this Friday, May 20, it will indeed be available at French tobacconists. A decision taken to comply with the recent European directive on tobacco. But not only. This Thursday on LCI, Marisol Touraine defended the introduction in France of this measure and did not rule out an increase in the price of tobacco.
“The neutral package is ugly and it is made for. The objective is to break the attractiveness of many cigarette packs, ”said the Minister of Health. And to celebrate this first in Europe, the tenant of the avenue Duquesne (Paris) drove the point home: “All cigarettes are equal, it’s poison, a poison of death and whatever the package: what it is. there’s something inside that kills, ”she hammered.

As a result, from this Friday, tobacco manufacturers will no longer have the right to produce marketed packets for the French market. Ditto for cartridges or roll-your-own tobacco. They will now only be able to manufacture packages without a logo, in brown green color (pantone 448C), with health warnings and photos of patients up to 65%.

And from January 1, 2017, we will only find this model in tobacco shops. Hope in the fight against smoking for Karine Gallopel-Morvan, professor at the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health (Rennes). This social marketing specialist specifies, however, that it is possible to go even further.

Today, in how many countries is the neutral package in force?
Karine Gallopel-Morvan : It has been in force in Australia since 2012. And it comes into force in Great Britain, as with us, today. It was also due to be introduced in Ireland, but it was a little bit out of date for technical reasons. It will probably be in place in a few weeks. Finally, several countries are considering it very seriously. This is the case of Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden … They are all very advanced in their reflections on this subject.

In Australia, has the neutral package proven its worth?
Karine Gallopel-Morvan : Yes, the plain package really breaks the very marketing side of the packaging, and the attractiveness of the brand and the package. Consequently, people, and especially young people, really have the impression that the package is ugly, very ugly, it does not make them want to buy it, and to start smoking in particular.
In addition, it greatly reduces consumer misinformation on the dangerousness of the product since tobacco companies use tobacco a lot to reassure them with certain so-called “less harmful” products. In addition, it greatly increases the urge to quit smoking. In Australia, for example, it led to an explosion of calls to the country’s tobacco information service line for information on quitting smoking, + 78% when it was implemented.

Has he succeeded in reducing the percentage of Australian smokers?
Karine Gallopel-Morvan : Yes, in Australia, young people smoked less during the periods which followed the neutral package. Health authorities have also witnessed a decline in the prevalence of smoking nationwide.
Now, it should be noted that other measures had been put in place in addition to the neutral package. It is therefore difficult to know the exact role it played in this decline. At the same time, the government had decided to increase prices, and packages are now invisible (at points of sale) and hidden in cupboards, etc. Thus, between 2012 and 2013, the Australian Department of Health recorded a drop of 3.4% in the rate of smokers. Once again, we do not know the extent to be attributed to the neutral package.

Do you think this phenomenon will occur in France?
Karine Gallopel-Morvan : I don’t know, but in our studies carried out in France, we found results identical to those published in Australia. French smokers who were tested, for example, were more eager to quit smoking and reduce their smoking. They also reported feeling that their tobacco was of lower quality, so they took less pleasure in smoking it.
But in this work, the most interesting element that we have noted is undoubtedly that smokers let their neutral packages hang out less in the eyes of their children. This is very important because the more a young person sees a package in his daily environment, the more he trivializes tobacco consumption. The cigarette will then become for him a product of everyday consumption like any other.

Do these French data suggest the best?
Karine Gallopel-Morvan : I think so, because these feasibility studies all show the same thing. In Great Britain, New Zealand, Canada, and Spain, the results are the same every time. We now know that there are around 70 studies published in scientific journals which show these beneficial effects of the neutral package. It is sure that it will change perceptions, social behavior, and intentions. I believe a lot in this from a scientific point of view. On the other hand, I cannot say and affirm that the neutral package will reduce consumption in France by so many percent.

On the appearance of the package, can we further reduce the attractiveness?
Karine Gallopel-Morvan : Yes, Canadians put a little card inside the package to inform smokers about how to quit smoking. To encourage them in this process, they also include testimonials from people who have quit smoking, presenting the benefits of quitting smoking.
This is why I think that in France, we can go even further to discourage smokers. By making the packet of cigarettes a tool at the service of public health and no longer at the service of the tobacco industry to increase its market share. Then we can also work on cigarettes. In recent studies, we realize that changing your marketing can have an interest, especially when you bring it directly to your mouth. These very interesting data still need to be confirmed in order to effectively alert the public authorities to this aspect.

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Karine Gallopel-Morvan, social marketing specialist: ” Changing cigarette marketing could have even more benefits than plain packaging… “