Cigarette advertising rethought

Health warnings on cigarette packages need to double in size if they are to deter smoking, a recent Health Canada study found.
According to the study, warning images would have to cover at least 90 per cent of the label to achieve a noticeable increase in the number of smokers who quit based on the images. Increasing the image size to cover 100 per cent of the label was found to be the most effective way of convincing adult smokers to quit smoking.
Anti-smoking groups said they were pleased with the study results. “I think releasing these findings to the media and to the general public is really important,” said Melodie Tilson, the director of policy for the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association. “I really hope it will put more pressure on Health Canada to go even further in their pursuit of tighter control over packaging.”
Neil Collishaw, research director for Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, said Health Canada’s efforts to update their cigarette packaging regulations aren’t effective enough.
“They keep on telling us they are working on proposals to update the regulations for cigarette packages. Well, it’s been eight years now, and we’re still waiting for changes to be made,” said Collishaw.
Health Canada officials declined to comment on whether they are planning to increase the size of warning images on the cigarette packages.
Health warning images began to appear on cigarette packages in January of 2001, they cover 50 per cent of the label.
Currently the images must be chosen from 16 full-colour pictures that include warnings on second-hand smoke, health effects and death statistics.
The study was conducted by polling firm Createc for Health Canada study and looked at the effects of warning images that covered 75, 90, and 100 per cent of the cigarette label.
The results were based on interviews with 730 adult smokers.

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