Law bans the use of logos, brand imagery, colours and promotional text
All tobacco packaging will be brown with the brand name barely visibleGraphic health warning will cover at least 85% of all tobacco packaging
By SUZANNAH HILLSPUBLISHED: 10:21 GMT, 30 November 2012 | UPDATED: 12:32 GMT, 30 November 2012
Australia will tomorrow become the first country in the world to strip all tobacco products of branding - leaving just standardised packs covered with graphic health warnings.
The new law bans the use of logos, brand imagery, symbols, other images, colours and promotional text.
Cigarette packs and other tobacco products will now all be the same dark brown colour with the brand written in small simple text under a health warning covering at least 85 per cent of the packaging.
Graphic: Examples of the new packaging now mandatory for all cigarettes sold in Australia
Images of example cigarette packaging were today launched ahead of the law coming in tomorrow.
They show sufferers of tongue cancer, peripheral vascular disease and lung cancer.
It is the latest drastic measure to try and get smokers to give up in Australia which already has one of the world's lowest smoking rates.
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The government hopes to deter young people from starting smoking with the new packaging after research found that if people have not started smoking by age 26, there is a 99 percent chance they will never take it up.
Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said: 'Even from a very early age, you can see that kids understand the message that the tobacco company is trying to sell through their branding.'
Australia has banned TV advertising, sports sponsorship and demands sellers hide cigarettes from view.
Showing the risks: The new health warnings take up 85 per cent of a cigarette packet
Cigarette products can no longer show any type of company branding - including logos, symbols, images and colours
But some experts claim that companies can still advertise their products to a younger audience through online marketing.
Becky Freeman, a public health researcher at Sydney University, said: 'If you are a tobacco marketer and you've only got this small window left to promote your products, online is the compelling place for you to be in.
Ms Freeman noted an increase in 'average Joe' reviews of brands on social media sites such as Youtube, Twitter and Facebook.
She added: 'We have to ask, is that just a private citizen who really loves Marlboro cigarettes and they've gone to the trouble of making a video, or is there a marketing company involved?'
The industry lobbied hard against the laws with tobacco firms claiming they would boost black market trade, leading to cheaper, more accessible cigarettes.
Spokesman for British American Tobacco Australia, Scott McIntyre, said: 'There will be serious unintended consequences from the legislation. Counterfeiters from China and Indonesia will bring lots more of these products down to sell on the streets of Australia.'
Dr Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: 'It’s important to remember the scale of harm caused by tobacco. It’s the single biggest preventable cause of death from cancer - causing more than a quarter of all cancer deaths and killing around six and a half million people in the UK over the last 50 years from cancer and other tobacco related diseases.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2240872/Gruesome-images-mouth-tumours-gangrene-How-cigarette-packet-sale-Australia-look-tomorrow.html#ixzz2DiSxjkbD
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Cigarette packs and other tobacco products will now all be the same dark brown colour with the brand written in small simple text under a health warning covering at least 85 per cent of the packaging.
Graphic: Examples of the new packaging now mandatory for all cigarettes sold in Australia
Images of example cigarette packaging were today launched ahead of the law coming in tomorrow.
They show sufferers of tongue cancer, peripheral vascular disease and lung cancer.
It is the latest drastic measure to try and get smokers to give up in Australia which already has one of the world's lowest smoking rates.
More...
Smoking harms your brain as well as your body: It leads to sharp decline in mental ability, warns study
Supermarkets agree to end discount 'cons' that tempt shoppers with bogus claims of savings
Cold call complaints rocket in the past year as people object to abandoned marketing calls
The government hopes to deter young people from starting smoking with the new packaging after research found that if people have not started smoking by age 26, there is a 99 percent chance they will never take it up.
Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said: 'Even from a very early age, you can see that kids understand the message that the tobacco company is trying to sell through their branding.'
Australia has banned TV advertising, sports sponsorship and demands sellers hide cigarettes from view.
Showing the risks: The new health warnings take up 85 per cent of a cigarette packet
Cigarette products can no longer show any type of company branding - including logos, symbols, images and colours
But some experts claim that companies can still advertise their products to a younger audience through online marketing.
Becky Freeman, a public health researcher at Sydney University, said: 'If you are a tobacco marketer and you've only got this small window left to promote your products, online is the compelling place for you to be in.
Ms Freeman noted an increase in 'average Joe' reviews of brands on social media sites such as Youtube, Twitter and Facebook.
She added: 'We have to ask, is that just a private citizen who really loves Marlboro cigarettes and they've gone to the trouble of making a video, or is there a marketing company involved?'
The industry lobbied hard against the laws with tobacco firms claiming they would boost black market trade, leading to cheaper, more accessible cigarettes.
Spokesman for British American Tobacco Australia, Scott McIntyre, said: 'There will be serious unintended consequences from the legislation. Counterfeiters from China and Indonesia will bring lots more of these products down to sell on the streets of Australia.'
Dr Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: 'It’s important to remember the scale of harm caused by tobacco. It’s the single biggest preventable cause of death from cancer - causing more than a quarter of all cancer deaths and killing around six and a half million people in the UK over the last 50 years from cancer and other tobacco related diseases.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2240872/Gruesome-images-mouth-tumours-gangrene-How-cigarette-packet-sale-Australia-look-tomorrow.html#ixzz2DiSxjkbD
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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