Studies show plain packaging can reduce tobacco reach
PLAIN AND standardized cigarette packaging could help reduce the tobacco industry’s marketing influence among Filipinos, recent public health studies revealed.
A study conducted by the Institute for Global Tobacco Control (IGTC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health on perceptions on cigarette pack designs showed that tobacco companies can make cigarette packs more appealing to young adults by appealing to their lifestyles and attitudinal aspirations.
Low- and middle-income countries such as the Philippines and Mexico are particularly vulnerable to this trend, the IGTC said.
Participants from the two countries easily identified and were attracted to cigarette packs with “vibrant colors” and offering different flavors, “with the majority interpreting themselves to be the youthful, primary audience for flavored products.”
Participants from the Philippines found that imagery of a flavor capsule indicated a “really cool” interactive feature and described colors on the packs as “attractive,” looking “like candy,” and imbued with “rainbow-ish appeal.”
The study classifies the Philippines as among the low- and middle-income countries with the biggest number of adults who smoke at 14.4 million. Smokers among adults stood at 33%. “Among youth, 11% reportedly smoke tobacco and 14% use e-cigarettes,” the IGTC said.
A separate study conducted by the Philippines’ Ateneo School of Government (ASOG), which involved 2,000 Filipino adults aged 18 to 65, showed that plain packaging will make graphic health warnings on tobacco products more effective.
It could also reduce the attractiveness of tobacco products and limit the use of tobacco brand variants as a promotional tool, said Jennifer Brown, an assistant scientist and co-author of the study.
“Smoking declines when policies on plain packaging, combined with large graphic health warnings, are implemented,” she said in the press release.
Without imposing a plain packaging policy on tobacco companies, packaging will remain a key marketing tool for the tobacco industry to attract potential consumers, encourage brand identification, and normalize the use of a lethal but legal product, said Gianna Gayle Amul, a research fellow from ASOG and principal author of the research. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
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