Tobacco firms fuming over Australia's "plain package" law

LogicSoDeveloped

LogicSoDeveloped

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Big Tobacco is under fire Down Under, with the Australian government saying it is ready to fight cigarette makers in court to enact the world's toughest laws on cigarette packaging.


The Australian Senate is scheduled to pass legislation Thursday that - beginning in Dec. 2012 - would stop tobacco companies from displaying their distinctive colors, brand designs and logos on cigarette packs. Cigarettes would be sold in drab, olive green packs, with brand names dwarfed by health warnings and graphic images of smoking's consequences.

The aim of the legislation? Make cigarettes and smoking less appealing to young people.

Tobacco giants argue that the move illegally diminishes the value of their trademarks. They've threatened a court battle for billions of dollars in compensation.

But Health Minister Nicola Roxon said her government was "determined to take away the last method of advertising" cigarettes in Australia.

"We're not going to be bullied into not taking this action just because tobacco companies say they might fight us in the courts," she told reporters. "We're ready for that if they do take legal action."

British American Tobacco Australia Ltd., the Australian market leader, on Thursday warned it would challenge the law in the Australian High Court, and claimed the government was on "shaky legal ground."

"No other country in the world has implemented plain packaging and there are many good reasons for that," spokesman Scott McIntyre said in a statement.

Australia is a relatively small market for tobacco. It has a smoking rate of 17 percent, compared with around 20 percent of American adults who smoke. But tobacco companies worry that the plain package law could be adopted by countries with more lucrative markets.

The warnings and gruesome, full-color images of the consequences of smoking -including mouth cancer and gangrenous toes - would cover 75 percent of the fronts of cigarette packages. Currently, graphic health warnings cover only 30 percent.
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the rest at: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_...rms-fuming-over-australias-plain-package-law/
 
im a smoker and i think its an awesome idea. how the hell would it pass i dont know. if someone gave me a pack with pictures of cancer on it i would probably turn it down
 
doesn't this hurt the graphics designers, typographers and product designers more?
 
They do this over in england already, every pack has a picture of some guy with throat cancer, or some diseased lungs.Yyet nobody I know has quit..
 
NSFW:
smoking_1a.jpg

^That's the one. I'm giving up smoking today, but it's not because of that guy. You'd be amazed how quickly you become desensitised.
 
Newbierock said:
They do this over in england already, every pack has a picture of some guy with throat cancer, or some diseased lungs.Yyet nobody I know has quit..
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It's not quite the same though, the colours and brands are still displayed the same as they were before really. I think making the brands and designs hard to see would be a more positive step than the cancer pictures really, but neither is really going to stop people smoking - just might stop some people from starting in the first place.
 
Vader said:
You'd be amazed how quickly you become desensitised.
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^ too true, you stop even comprehending the pictures after a while.

Though, children who are around smokers do not, and they sometimes argue with their parents to stop, as the pictures are not something to pass by, too them.

I think it's a great idea, never liked smoking.
Less smokers makes it easier for me to stay quit, less amount of times I'll smell how good a freshly lit cigarette is.
 
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