Repellant cigarette packs for Australia
Proposed law, being watched by governments and tobacco companies, will require cigarettes be sold with images of smoking-related diseases| MATTHEW BOYLE |
Published: 2012/04/24 09:09:09 AM
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AUSTRALIA, which wants to impose the world’s first ban on logos printed on cigarette packs, has a rather unusual marketing challenge — how to create a product package whose intent is to repel consumers.
A proposed Australian law, being watched by governments globally and challenged by companies including British American Tobacco (BAT), would require cigarettes to be sold in dark olive-brown packages, with corporate logos replaced by graphic images of smoking-related diseases, and a uniform font associated with Microsoft’s Windows software. The choice of colour and font was based on studies by Australian health authorities, who sought to minimise attractiveness of packs.
That research dovetails with decades of polling and experimentation by companies such as BAT and Imperial Tobacco Group, which have long viewed their packages as "silent salesmen".
If Australia’s High Court upholds the law, brands such as Dunhill, made by BAT, and Philip Morris International’s Marlboro would lose their iconic logos and recognisable imagery overnight. All that would remain is the brand name, written in a font known as Lucida Sans, on a pack whose colour is known in the design trade as Pantone 448C.
Neither choice was random. The Australian health department hired Sydney-based research company GfK Blue Moon to come up with the most repellent packaging possible.
GfK selected the colour and font to "unplug the product" from its marketing, creating a gap between the tobacco and its association with anything elegant, masculine or exciting, said Scott Morris, associate professor of food engineering and packaging at the University of Illinois.
Cigarette packages are different from other consumer product containers, in that smokers retain the pack until it is finished. Such social visibility means cigarettes are known as "badge products", which associate the user with the brand’s image.
Perceptions of cigarettes can be changed by altering the colour on a pack, through a process called "sensation transfer". Lightening the tone is a common practice, as it reduces the perception of a cigarette’s strength. Red conveys a strong smoke, blue is associated with lower-tar, and white is usually the lightest smoke available.
Bloomberg
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http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=170345
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