Smoke signals

Doubting Thomas -

Australia is thinking about taking some drastic measures in the fight against smoking. Some in government want to take away the right of tobacco companies to put logos and colours on their product packages.

Imagine it: generic white or brown cartons with the name of the brand in a plain, boring font.

I think it makes sense. It would be the next logical step to follow what the provincial government recently did when it banned "power walls" at just about every store that sells cigarettes. Banning power walls keeps those bright logos out of sight and mind of children and young adults, also known as the tobacco companies' next generation of consumers.

The power walls may be gone, but when a parent or other adult gets those cigarettes home, the logo is still there.

Branding, logos and even the bright colours amount to cigarette advertising. Those logos and colours catch the eyes of children and teens.

Why target smoking but not alcohol? Sure some people quit drinking for many reasons, but many others drink responsibly their entire lives and suffer no ill effects. On the other hand, I have yet to meet a smoker who doesn't talk about quitting, or who doesn't wish aloud that they never started in the first place.

Cigarettes amount to a tax on the poor. The statistics are clear. There is an inverse correlation to a person's socioeconomic status and how likely they are to smoke. That means the less money you make, the more likely you are to smoke.

If this correlation has taught us anything, it's that smokers don't really care about brands. That's why as the government ups the taxes on smokes, some consumers resort to buying those harsh, illegal cigarettes that come in big ziplock bags.

Brands might not matter too much to the smoker, but taking them away might deter their 10-year-old from smoking down the road. By taking away their brand power, cigarettes will be reduced to stale white boxes, with all the appeal (and similar toxicity) as no-name bleach.

With any luck, it will help break the cycle of a new generation picking up the habit.

Don't mistake this with a call to make cigarettes illegal. Smoking will never go away entirely, and the government should never stop selling tobacco all together. Prohibition doesn't work. Which is why the government should get into the business of selling marijuana. But that's another column for another day.

reporter@gulfnews.ca