• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Download full size image

Color, Description Of Cigarette Packets Trick Smokers

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 August 2009, 12:25 CDT

Seemingly innocent details of cigarette packaging, such as color, can trick a smoker into believing the cigarettes inside are somehow less harmful to their health, according to a recent study.

Conducted by researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada, the study found you do not need words like "light," "mild," and "low-tar," which have been banned from cigarette packets in more than 40 countries, to mislead a consumer.

Tobacco companies are using design elements and color to give smokers a false sense of safety regarding the harmful effects of smoking.

"Substantial proportions of adults in the study associated perceptions of risk and tar delivery with package design," the study's authors wrote.

In the study, specially designed cigarette packets were given in pairs to some 600 smokers and non-smokers. They were then questioned about their perception of the content of the packets based on the packaging alone.

Though the packets were designed to look and feel like real cigarettes, the brand names were completely fictional in order to avoid “contaminations” and to make sure the opinions were not based on prior assumptions about the product.

The two packs of cigarettes shown to participants in the study were identical, apart from their descriptions as “full flavored”, “light”,  or a design element like color. Each pack also showed a health warning, which is required under Canadian law.

Around 80 percent of participants in the study believed that cigarettes in the light blue packet contained less tar, would have a smoother taste, and be less dangerous to health than those in dark blue packaging, the researchers said.

They also found that 70 percent of study participants thought a packet with a white symbol would deliver less tar, be smoother and pose less of a health threat than cigarettes in a packet with a grey symbol.

And 7 out of every 10 participants believed cigarettes in packets showing the words “charcoal filter” with a picture of the filter, would truly deliver that benefit.

What is equally interesting is the fact that smokers were more susceptible to deception by imagery, words, and color of cigarette packages than non-smokers because “they have greater incentive to believe that some cigarettes may be less harmful," the study found.

The study noted that tobacco use is responsible for one in 10 deaths across the globe and is currently the leading cause of preventable deaths.

The tobacco industry considers "rising levels of health concern" as a major threat to its success, therefore it has focused in on  it has made restoring consumer confidence about the risks associated with smoking "an important function of tobacco marketing," the study said.

"A central feature of this marketing strategy has been to promote the perception that some cigarettes are less hazardous than others," wrote the authors of the study David Hammond and Carla Parkinson.

They said that tobacco packaging "has served as a critical medium for shaping perceptions of consumer risk."

In 44 countries, including the United States, the words "light," "mild," and "low-tar," have been banned on cigarette packages, because they mislead consumers about the health risks of smoking, the study says.

The authors want the list of prohibited words to be expanded and for plain packaging to be required in order to keep the tobacco industry from misleading smokers.

"There is growing evidence that the removal of brand imagery from packaging -- so-called 'plain' packaging -- reduces the appeal of brands and increases the salience of health warnings," the study says.

"Research to date suggests that plain packages are less attractive and engaging and may reduce brand appeal, particularly among youth."

The study was published in the Oxford University Press Journal of Public Health.

---

On the Net:

• University of Waterloo
• Journal of Public Health

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

More News in this Category