Irish Cancer Society short film shows that tobacco industry tactics work on children as young as 9
Today, we have launched a short film which shows that tobacco marketing is working on children as young as nine, but that they are repelled by the plain packs which the Government plans to introduce.
Pupils from 3rd class in Scoil Aonghusa Primary School, Tallaght in Dublin were shown branded cigarette packs and asked what they thought of them. The children found the packs appealing and were particularly positive about the bright colours and rainbow coloured effects used on some packs. They felt that the pink slimline packs would appeal to young girls. They also liked the ‘fancy writing’ used on the packs.
We know that young people are a key target market for the tobacco industry, which needs to recruit 50 new smokers a day to replace those who have either died or quit, in order to keep making profits. Most of these new smokers are children. 80% of smokers start before the before the age of 18 and children in Ireland begin smoking at an earlier age than in any other country in Europe.
The Government has announced plans to introduce legislation which will require all cigarettes to be packaged in plain or standardised packaging. This would mean that all cigarettes would be packaged in standard shaped and coloured packs without branding, design or logos. Plain packaging will limit the tobacco industry’s ability to recruit child smokers by using marketing techniques that are intentionally misleading such as using light coloured packaging to suggest lower tar levels.
The children from Scoil Aonghusa were shown examples of what plain packaging may look like. The response to these packs was very negative with children calling them ‘disgusting’ and ‘gross’. One of the boys remarked that he did not know how people could buy the cigarettes in plain packs. They felt that plain packs “show what it (smoking) does to you” and were shocked by the images of the health effects of smoking used on the plain packs. The standardised packs prompted one girl to ask, “Why do they even make smokes in the first place?”
Our film shows that the tobacco industry’s tactics are working on children as young as 9. There is a dramatic difference in the reaction of the children to plain packs. This shows the powerful impact which plain packs will have on protecting young people from tobacco industry tactics. We support the urgent introduction of legislation for plain packaging. The tobacco industry must not be allowed delay or prevent this legislation in any way.
You can help us make sure that plain packaging is introduced as quickly as possible by signing our pledge of support here. The Irish Cancer Society is holding a Twitter Q&A session on the film and plain packaging tonight at 8pm and would like as many people as possible to get involved. You can join the discussion on Twitter by using the hashtag #packattack. You will need to follow the Irish Cancer Society @irishcancersoc to see our Tweets. You can read more about plain packaging online here.
