Will Cigarette Plain Pack Work? An Exploratory Study in the UK

Smoking has been a major public issue across the globe and considered as one of leading causes of death that kills approximately six million people a year (WHO 2012). Governments and health organizations have been constantly trying to reduce number of smokers through controlling the promotion and advertising of tobacco product (WHO 2008). In the UK, the control has begun since 1996 with the prohibition on television and radio, followed by the ban on direct marketing and sponsorship in 2005, the prohibition of the sale of tobacco product on vending machine in 2011, and the ban on the point of sale display of tobacco in large stores in 2012, which ban will take effect for small stores from 2015 (ASH 2012). As most forms of promotion and advertising are prohibited, cigarette packaging has become the remaining important promotion tool in reaching potential and current smokers (Gallopel-Morgan et al. 2012; Freeman et al. 2011). On 1 December 2012 Australia has become the first country in the world in implementing cigarette plain packaging (BBC 2012). Obviously opposing criticisms have emerged arguing that plain packaging might generate risk, such as business difficulty for retailers (Alliance of Australian Retailers 2011) and uncertainty that plain packaging would meet its aims (British American Tobacco 2012).