Plain Packaging of Tobacco Policy: Rational, Scope, Implications and Challenges

Running Head: PLAIN PACKAGING OF TOBACCO POLICY 1
Contemporary Issues in Health Services Management
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PLAIN PACKAGING OF TOBACCO POLICY 2
Contemporary Issues in Health Services Management
The Australian government is part of the tobacco control program that seeks to eradicate
tobacco use (Staff and Agencies, 2012). Hence, it has been relentless in ensuring that it meets its
obligation as a member. Recently in 2012, the government passed a law that facilitated
standardized branding of cigarettes and other tobacco products. The law strongly prevents people
from being misled about the effects or hazards of smoking. This came about as a result of
lobbying from world health organization to make all the brands of the products plain. This
reduces the appeal of the product to consumers. Tobacco use has been a leading cause of death
through cancer that can be preventable. The passage of the bill has various implications for the
manufacturers as well as the public. The law has twofold effects where the former and latter
experience alternate effects. It has been acknowledged that the policy does indeed have
significant impacts on the use of tobacco products (Reuters, 2017). This essay then explains on
the rational of the policy, its scope, the implications and impacts as well as the challenges for its
implementation.
Policy Regulating the Branding of Cigarettes
In 2012, a law was passed in Australia that regulated the packaging of cigarettes from
various brands. Australia set the pace with the enactment of this law that is restrictive of the
marketing privileges that cigarette companies have (The Department of Health, 2012). The law
provides that the packaging for all brands is plain and common. For example, the color of the
package should be olive oil green. 75% of the package should contain warnings of the use of
tobacco. Gruesome pictures of body parts that are diseased are a prerequisite of the law. The
gruesome pictures include for example pictures pf babies that have defects due to their parents’
smoking habits. The packaging should be presented in plain fonts as well. The law also caters

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that there is a strong penalty for smuggling of the tobacco products (The Department of Health,
2012). Also, cigarettes or other tobacco products containing tobacco that are duty free have their
concessions reduced. This policy mostly regulates the marketing of the tobacco products.
The law also regulates the distribution of the product by retailers. For example, the law
considers it an offense to offer for sale the products of tobacco. This means that display of the
product in shelves (BBC News, 2017) is equal to offering it for sale. It is a recommendation of
the law that the product should not be visible to the consumers in retail shops. As such, the
purchase of the product with the intention to distribute (selling) is also an offense according to
this policy. This law intends to completely regulate the packaging and distribution of the product
to ensure that it is well controlled in line with the government’s objectives. The World Health
Organization (WHO) is lobbying other countries to follow suit in regulating the branding of
cigarettes.
WHO is encouraging countries around the world to reduce the power of advertising of
cigarette manufacturers. The lobbying gas been so far successful in several countries including
the United Kingdom. After the communication of these manufacturing companies was made
public, a weak point to reduce the propagation of the products was found. Lencucha and Drope
(2013) explain that the various company documents indicated that the branding or marketing of
their products influenced the flow of the product in the market. Therefore, to reduce this ability,
regulating its marketing according to above mentioned proves to be successful.
The law reduces the potential of these companies to mislead the consumers on the
dangers of the use of the tobacco product. For example, some companies chose to use light
colors for branding to indicate that the product has less potency when in fact it is no different
from others (Smith et al., 2015). Various companies that manufacture cigarettes have sought to

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battle the law in courts in several occasions. Their defense was that freedom of speech were
violated as well as the international laws of trade. Many companies have lost the cases
considering the piled data showing the effects of tobacco smoking. The passage of this law that
controls the distribution of tobacco is due to a number of concerns that relate to public health.
Rational for the Policy
The effects of tobacco use were recognized as early as in the 1970s and probably before
as Belluz (2016) explains and efforts to reduce its use were exerted. During the 1970s the
tobacco product was marketed through radios and television which thus increased the usage of
the same. The various companies that manufactured these products also sponsored various
activities and teams in a bid to market their product. Following research on the adverse effects on
health that were linked to the use of tobacco, campaigns took place lobby against tobacco use.
The fight against the use of tobacco has been long but progressive. For example, the first form of
lobby against use of tobacco was through warnings on the packaging. The warnings were in
small gold fonts at the top of the cigarette package. Towards the end of the 1970s, the cigarette
manufacturing companies were banned from advertising through radios and television. Also,
towards the entry into the 1980s, these companies were barred from sponsoring any games or
activities (Scollo, Bayly, and Wakefield, 2018). Towards the end of the 1980s, advertising of the
tobacco product virtually disappeared from many types of media. The current law advocates for
hampering advertisement of the product through branding.
The new policy has the objective of creating awareness on the use of tobacco from
various fronts. For example, the law was enacted to ensure that the tobacco products would lose
their appeal. Many young people are attracted to use of the product due to the style or design
branding. To break this power of advertising as per the companies’ documents indicate, the plain