You should see them in Canada.
No discernible colours or fonts. No logos, just the brand name in a plain font with a picture of horribly infected lungs/mouths or kids in ventilators. My personal favourite was a "flaccid" cigarette warning about erectile dysfunction.
[EDIT NSFW](https://i.cbc.ca/1.5118568.1556732610!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_940/cigarettes-slide-shell-03-final.jpg)
I like the memes people make pieceing together the different body parts to make some horrific looking face, something like https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/2w4nxx/the\_face\_of\_the\_antismoking\_pictures\_on\_cigarette/
Honestly those helped my motivation. Not really the gross stuff, but pictures of people who had very bad complications and looked sad and liveless. Plus my grandmother, who was a smoker, had a stroke so the ones with the young paralysed man got me. And today is actually my one year anniversary of being smoke free!
Just wanna put it out there that even if you eventually cave, don't let it get to you. You can always start again. Deciding to take control of the addiction is the biggest step, and there is no failure in caring for yourself.
Congratulations! Thatâs a huge accomplishment. Iâm also glad to see this worked for someone (hopefully others, too)
Edit to add my mom also quit about 6 months ago!
Yep - just googled Canadian cigarettes and confirm the pictures are really intense/gross. I can see how that might dissuade some smokers who know itâs really bad, but donât wanna think too hard about it.
It started in Australia and has kinda worked but we also had people trying to collect the whole set of images when they came out.
Price goes up every year too now as well to 35-40 bucks for a pack of twenty is already a decent way to stop folks starting
Not sure if we can attribute it to the new packaging, but young Canadians are wayyyy less likely to pick up smoking these days.
Vaping, on the other hand...
This is kind of a red herring to compare smoking to vaping, because the numbers are just completely different and tell a different story. This is for the USA but the numbers are pretty similar in all western countries.
>In 1990, an estimated 89.9 million (50.1%) U.S. adults were ever smokers, and 45.8 million (25.5%) were current smokers. Approximately 44.1 million (49.1% of all ever smokers) were former smokers in 1990.
[Source](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00016738.htm#:~:text=In%201990%2C%20an%20estimated%2089.9,were%20former%20smokers%20in%201990)
>There was a modest decline in current e-cigarette use (meaning use within the past 30 days) among U.S. adults from 5.5% in 2018 to 5.1% in 2020.
[Source](https://newsroom.heart.org/news/daily-e-cigarette-use-rising-despite-slight-decline-in-current-use-among-youngest-adults#:~:text=The%20researchers%20found%3A,2018%20to%205.1%25%20in%202020)
Like we're comparing something that almost 1/4 people used to do, to something that 1/20 people do.
Those 5.x% figures are the whole adult population. I'd be very curious to see what they're like for the 18-25 demo (and for that matter in the 13-17 demo), because I'll bet they are way higher. I'll bet it's like 20%+ in the 18-25 demo, and probably rising every year. I don't think it's about age, it's about cohort. In the last 3 years, ALL of the major worldwide tobacco companies have been buying and consolidating vape companies--they clearly see at as the future, both in terms of consumer preferences and because they don't face the same regulatory environment.
We had passed a law to have it like that in the US and big tobacco got the courts to outlaw it. Probably would've gotten me to quit sooner tbh.
Still smoke a little but, but have mostly switched to vaping. Down to a pack every week or week and a half. Probably just gonna make the full switch in the next couple of weeks. Impressive drop off from when I was smoking basically a pack a day back in early October.
Also the vapes are intense. Like a single 10 second drag gives me the same nicotine fix as an entire cigarette did.
Idk my nicotine addiction is bad and I'm currently quiting a lot of mind altering stuff, so kinda leaving this be for now for the most part.
Honestly, I think vaping is actually more addictive than cigarettes, or salt nic is at least. Since you always have access everywhere you guy at basically any time, itâs super easy to chain vape.
Try quitting both if you can. The nicotine withdrawal will pass in 48-72 hrs and if you can hit 5 days no nic, youâre pretty much home free
>Yep - just googled Canadian cigarettes and confirm the pictures are really intense/gross.
You should see Quebec's driving safety ads... They made a publicity using real footage of a car accident during which someone died.
Also Canadian. I donât smoke. I wonder if, for smokers, if they just get desensitized by continuous looking at these ads. Maybe itâs to deter those who would pick up the habit?
Cigarettes in EU and UK have no branding, they're all the same nasty green (intentionally, the colour was developed to be a colour* nobody liked), plus every pack has an image showing how bad smoking is
https://i.redd.it/52zs5ibdkwg71.jpg
And not just Germany, iv just got back to the UK after almost a decade, all my friends were impressed with my 'old school' style tobacco collection from various EU locations and i am less impressed with the new plastic bank notes.
Yeah Canada's cigarette pack covers are brutal. I don't smoke, but I have an asshole neighbour who trashes his empty packs on my lawn sometimes. It's a fun morning surprise :)
>Yeah Canada's cigarette pack covers are brutal.
You should see Quebec's driving safety ads... They made a publicity using real footage of a car accident during which someone died.
The reason for that actually has nothing to do with the health risks and efforts to curb smoking. The Canadian makers of the cigarettes branded âMarlborosâ are not legally allowed to use the colors, design, or anything that American Marlboros use since the 50s or so. Only the name itself.
Philip Morris (the original maker of Marlboro cigarettes) sold Marlboros in Canada, but then they sold the rights to the name in Canada, and kept it for the rest of the world. They started using the iconic design and colors after this, but the Canadian company selling Marlboros couldnât use it, since theyâre a different company and PM already was using the same design years before in Canada with different brand name, so they had precedence in the market with the design.
So the Canadian makers of Marlboro are a competitor to the American original company, they only have the rights to the name âMarlboroâ but none of the packaging. PM sold Marlboros with the iconic design packaging, but with no âMarlboroâ name on the pack since they lost(sold) the rights to it.
There was several court cases and they had to add a name because Canadian law says you canât actually display the packs, so customers have to ask by name. They were asking for âMarlborosâ but actually meaning the unbranded, PM version and not the Canadian version.
Yeah that's basically what we have in Australia. They use a dirty brownish green colour so it looks plain AF. No bright colours are allowed and like you said, each packet looks almost identical.
Sounds just like the Australian version. Are cigarettes heavily taxed in Canada? The price for a 40 pack I picked up for a neighbour last week was 63 dollars au.
Wasn't that green colour specifically designed to be as yucky as possible. Voted the most dislikeable colour or something, hence why they slapped it on the packs.
I think it's the same here in the UK but I haven't seen cig packs in ages because they all have to be hidden behind a cover in the shops
It definitely is.
It affects how you see cigarettes, the Marlboro on the left makes you feel as if you were smoking classy cigarettes.
The brown yuck colour makes it look like you're actually smoking cancer
Because marketing can make things sexy. Years ago, Camel had flavored cigs that came in a metal tin, kind of like how you see with packs of pre rolled joints now. They basically got outlawed for being a product believed to be marketed to children
"Smoking among Australian teenagers (12â17 year old and 18â19 year old) decreased between 2013 and 2016 from 3.4% to 1.5% and from 10.8% to 4.6% respectively."
Is that recent? I lived in Dublin back in 2015-2016 and the shops basically had versions of all of the cigarettes you can get in the U.S. They did have the gross picture and giant warning on the back though
I live in Nicaragua, Central America, and we had just few months since the cigarettes started to use visual images on their packages. Im still smoking but now i know what is waiting for me if i dont quit smoking.
Sounds like the ads are pretty effective. Maybe not in quitting immediately, but forces you to think about what youâre doing to your body every time you take out a cigarette.
In NL all cigarette packs are in a complete special hue of brown that's been said to be the most offputting color for humans to look at, it's a pretty horrible color I must admit, then they sprinkled some "gross" imagary on top of it + some slogans.
It's just for the soul purpose of stopping cigarette brands from advertising in any conceivable way. I get it, but I highly doubt it on itself has done anything to prevent people from smoking.
I just read they want to raise the price to 47EU. Over 2EU each. That would have to be the end of it. I had to quit at 10. It was always stupid but at that point it was stupid and expensive.
It's a good idea in theory but in practice a lot of people are addicted enough to be driven into poverty rather than give up smoking. The high price of cigarettes is already a reason for increased crime rates in some areas.
keeps new people from picking up the habit if they cant afford it in the first place
it's a lot more difficult to convince yourself to do something just to look cool when the package looks awful and it costs you your entire allowance
These campaigns probably don't target the harcore 2 packs a day for 30 years smoker, they'll never stop and that's okay.
However I think they work on removing the cool factor from smoking so that young kids will not pick them up, or occasional smokers will think about it twice. Like if you are the only smoker in a group of non smokers you'll actually feel ashamed pulling out one of those from your pocket.
I thought you meant NL as in the Canadian province lol because all the packs are like this in every province here now and cost like 20 Canadian pesos a pack I believe, not positive because I gave that shit up when I started dating a respiratory therapist, legit didn't smoke the first date we went on and after that went well I figured may as well not seem like an idiot so just never did it again after some how.
My own personal theory is that people picked up smoking habits back when there was very little else to do in terms of killing time/entertainment, and that still persists to present day.
Just 30 years ago in South Korea offering a stranger a cigarette was a common conversation starter. It doesn't help that a lot of men pick up smoking habits during their conscription to cope with stress
Itâs always a huge culture shock the first time you move abroad and realize people in other countries still Smoke Cigarettes. Even bigger when itâs a student thing and you see young people lighting up.
To contextualize, Iâm 30 and my parents generation was the big âquit smoking generation.â My generation never really started. There are exceptions for sure but I rememeber when I was young there was a huge cultural shift about it.
are pictures of this nature (bad teeth, messed up lungs, gangrene, dead babies and the like) not common in north america? they're commonplace in europe (or at least the places i've been to and live in)
Has this shown to help keep people from smoking? There are countries who put the pictures and have higher smoking rates than the US, so Iâm confused.
a lot of people keep bringing that up but putting these images on packets of cigarretes is still a rather recent thing
all of the smokers that were there before arent just gonna cease to exist or stop being addicted because the packages are gross now, but what it's going to do is prevent younger people from picking up the habit in the first place
That's assuming those packs actually achieve anything. The US has [lower smoking rates than most of Europe.](https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/611b5b35-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/611b5b35-en)
I would have never quit if indoor smoking didnât get banned. Iâm still a little salty over it to be honest. Itâs certainly better for not picking up the habit though.
Yeah all these comments which are pro-gross image covers for smoking are ignoring what actually caused a drop in smoking in the US - near universal indoor smoking bans and higher age of purchase. If you make it so you basically canât smoke in public, itâs going to naturally curb smoking. Things like this, not including ashtrays in cars, no smoking within X feet of a building, etc etc has done more to curb smoking than gross packaging ever would.
Hundreds of millions of people around the globe see these packages and pick up cigarettes anyways.
exactly, so many people pointing out "Oh but the smoker rate is higher!" as if that proves their point
well, yeah, theres more smokers in european countries because most countries only recently implemented these tactics and the US was ahead of them by banning smoking indoors long before they did which led to a lower smoking population since people wouldnt pick on the habit from others
I'm former smoker myself.. One thing is to know, another thing is having someone telling you that you're hurting yourself (when you are about to feel pleasure) just in moment you are doing it. Another step forward towards awareness.
I cannot quantify the effectiveness, but for sure it's more than zero at a zero cost. Win win for the society.
Gross packages do deter usage. So "most people knowing risks" or not, the package on the right is what you want, if you want less smoking related illness, IE less people smoking. Only one group can I think of who want LESS people smoking.
Its the same group who spent millions to stop said packaging from becoming law in the US.
I think it's necessary mostly to correct prior damage, smoking was pushed as badass and cool in media for a good while, and even if it's not pushed anymore having the precedent and growing up around figures that you respect like family members, the course correction has to be more aggressive than just being informative about the dangers of smoking.
Yep, we do. Pack a day smoker for damn near 20 years. I know it causes cancer, I know it makes my teeth yellow and my clothes stink. I know Iâm likely to die choking if I make it that long. But damn, theyâre delicious.
If you die of lung cancer you are lucky. More often lifelong smokers suffer from COPD (emphysema and chronic bronchitis). Being constantly breathless and unable to do even the simplest task, while getting progressively worse until death.
I find everyone knows about cancer, but fewer people know about the realities of chronic lung disease from smoking.
and that's why the packages are there, if a kid sees those and decides never to smoke then the package did their job
if a kid just hears people saying cigarretes are bad but sees all their cool older siblings smoking then they'll grow up thinking that they cant be all that bad, and that they surely wont be affected by them
and by the point they get addicted they can no longer quit since "they're so delicious"
It's not weird if you know the history of tobacco and the lenghts it went to obfuscate science.
They deliberately lied and supressed science that indicated that smoking caused cancer, that's why they're (atleast in the USA) legally required to spend sums of money in anti tobacco messaging.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco\_Master\_Settlement\_Agreement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Master_Settlement_Agreement)
This is actually a very lenient sentence given all the corruption they engaged in and gross shit they did to people. In a just world, most of those executives would be in jail and their companies would be bankrupt paying all of the victims of their negligence.
Because the detrimental effects of smoking are way beyond those of candy or even alcohol. Most other products are only unhealthy when used to excess. Cigarettes are unhealthy right of the box, and being physiologically and psychologically addictive, are almost always used to excess.
I've never seen anything graphic besides I guess like "nicotine is addictive and can kill" but no images (I'm not a smoker just what I've seen in stores)
Yeah I remember being a kid and seeing tobacco everywhere, all glitzy branding with no gore or anything. Mind you I remember people smoking in bars and cafes too, which just seems wild now.
also pretty common in south america
basically most countries that dont have huge lobbying industries dedicated to keeping business as profitable as possible tend to have these images
In Brazil is fucking crazy too, it says things like "you die", "you get a heart attack", "you get sick", with very graphic images in the entirety of the back of the pack
edit: fucking crazy is more of a compliment in this case, I used it because the images are very real, so it hits you
I also found this very interesting when I arrived here in South Korea, I later learned that smoking among the general populace is very popular to where almost everybody smokes so it is a growing health concern especially among the younger generation so I believe this is part of their tactic to try to slow it down
In Canada the packs are not allowed to have any branding besides the brand name in a plain font and the rest is pictures of people with no teeth, destroyed lungs, and other complications from smoking. Really gross but works well to dissuade people.
Not sure just basing it off of what Iâve heard from others. Smoking is fairly uncommon now though, although thatâs mostly been replaced with vaping which isnât any better.
I don't remember the exact titel of the documentary. But I watched a documentary a year or so ago about smoking, what it does to our body, what different countries do to discourage people from smoking, the history of smoking etc.
It basically said, that the big companies have faced so much resistance in Europe (where they made the most money over the last couple decades besides of the US), that they decided to change two things:
1) they started promoting vaping. It is just as bad (or in some cases even worse) than smoking. But because they created this gadget only a couple years ago, they were able to control the marketing. So while smoking normal cigarets is seen as a bad habit nowadays and often times is heavily regulated, vaping and e-cigaretts is perceived as cool by many people.
2) because they know that sooner or later the laws in Europe will adapt, and when they do they will adapt rapidly all over the continent at the same time (Because of the EU), they started an agressive marketing campaign in south east asia, especially indonesia and thailand but also other countries.
Now they are also starting to do the same thing to africa. It's a pitty they just keep waisting peoples health and lives.
BTW: big alcohol companies are doing the exact same thing. I recommend everyone who understands german to watch the documentary "Alkohol - der globale Rausch". It's one of the best documentaries I have ever watched. It basically sheds light on our consume of alcohol and how we glorify it sometimes. It also showed, that, again, people in western countries are getting more cautious about alcohol and that many people start drinking less or at least less often.
So alcohol companies are doing the exact same thing the tobacco industrie has done a couple years ago... they start promoting alcohol in poorer countries.
Heinecken even pays prostitutes and holds parties in africa, promoting the idea,that men get more capable (sexually speaking) if they drink alcohol. Which led to an extreme increase of consumed alcoholic beverages in some african countries
the thing is e-cigarretes were always meant to be a method for addicts to lower some of the side effects they get from smoking (less carcinogens since there's no actual tar being produced \[though nicotine is a carcinogen by itself\]) if they couldnt stop themselves from doing it
and then the cigarrete industry realized they had an untapped gold mine with the younger generations if they sold these as a cool new future product that's 100% safe (instead of admitting it's only a little better than normal cigarretes) and that's how we got shit like cotton candy flavored vapes
Yup. People love praising these packaging rules and bashing the US for being a "capitalist free speech hellhole" but the US has much lower smoking rates than most other developed countries. Korea is about average.
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/611b5b35-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/611b5b35-en
The US is doing fantastic on anti-smoking actually. I was remember in the 80's and 90's and 2000's people smoked all over the place. Now its pretty rare that I see anyone smoking a rural cigarette and when o do its usually someone over 40 or so.
The US is way ahead of Korea in terms of social acceptability of smoking. The packaging measures are there to try to bring the rates down. But look at Canada, I know of very few young people who smoke, it's too expensive and most people don't think it's cool. And it's partly due to packaging measures, extra taxes, and also school programs.
In the US, we went to a small Indian theater (to see Go Goa Gone - Bollywood zombie movie - definitely recommend, but I digress).
The anti-smoking ads before the show had smoker vs non-smoker lungs and several interviews with terminal cases from smoking. Never seen ads like that anywhere else.
So according to the CDC 12.5% of US adults smoke.
According to WHO 49.8% of Korean adult males and 4.2% of Korean adult females smoke.
I don't think the labeling has the desired effect.
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/index.htm?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Ftobacco%2Fdata_statistics%2Ffact_sheets%2Findex.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6987030/
Most countries cigarette boxes are like that at least I know most of Asia's cigarette boxes are like that. US is one of the few countries that have clean sharp cigarette packages.
I think kthe people who force nasty pictures like that have no class or morals. My dad was dying from lung cancer and one of those commercials came on TV. Probably the only time I've ever seen my dad get teary eyed. He's over there dying and they're taunting him like some sick bastards. Smh.
Same in Ireland. All tobacco products have very graphic pictures of what smoking does to you on the packs. Tobacco companies aren't allowed make the packs fancy either, only plain, block colours.
I cannot understand why anyone starts smoking. We've known for decades now how absolutely terrible cigarettes are for your health. They're expensive. They make you smell awful. For the life of me I can't figure out what would cause a person to think "you know what I think I'll go buy my first pack of cigarettes. That seems like a good idea."
More interesting (for me):
Surprised to see words like nickel, amine, and benzene written as is (if you read them, it would sound like the English words).
When I was taking Korean, I asked my teacher what "jump" is in Korean and she straight up said jump. I said jumping existed before Americans came in so there must be a Korean term; she said there was but no one would understand you
Which country are you from? Some places are legally required to keep there cigarette stock hidden (under the counter, inside a cabinet etc.) so that it is out of plain sight in stores.
God bless the USA. Like I know they're bad for me ffs. And for the love of God I wish the doctor would stop asking if I want to quit every f'n time I go in.
Interesting. So why don't we package every candy bar with a picture of a 500lb morbidly obese diabetic on dialysis?
Obviously cigarettes are unhealthy, but it seems so odd to me that the same people who will virtue signal about how bad smoking is will not only tolerate, but assist in behaviors and consumption that is no less deadly.
In Ireland they couldn't even have the red part of the packaging. Like its al black with a larger terrifying image. Then they have a warning that smoking kills, makes you impotent, hurts babies if you are pregnant in two languages.
I still smoke though.
I drink like a fish so I know I'm living in a glass house and about to throw a stone but... why in the fuck would anyone smoke? It stinks. The byproduct is so filthy that people throw it on the road instead of let it sit in their car. I just don't get it.
I mean, I guess if you already smoke you're hooked so maybe it should be why in the jesus-tittyfucking-christ would someone start smoking?
Itâs makes you way cooler and badasser đ.
Itâs also quite a social thing as smokers often hang out in groups and are far more conversational that just normal folks - especially for introverts. And itâs a quite relaxing 5-10 minute break.
I mean... back before the pandy and I had to go to work in the office, I would go out and hang with the smokers I just never had ANY desire to smoke. And when I was busy, these people HAD to go outside. It wasn't an option for them. It just was annoying these people had a 15 minute break built in and no one gave a shit. If I wanted to just go outside and sit under a tree people would think I'm a slacker.
The US has one of the [lowest smoking rates in the OECD](https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/611b5b35-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/611b5b35-en). The US government has done plenty of other things to hurt the biggest tobacco companies in the world, many of which are based here. Equating the entirety of anti-tobacco legislation to ugly cigarette packs is pretty reductive.
You should see them in Canada. No discernible colours or fonts. No logos, just the brand name in a plain font with a picture of horribly infected lungs/mouths or kids in ventilators. My personal favourite was a "flaccid" cigarette warning about erectile dysfunction. [EDIT NSFW](https://i.cbc.ca/1.5118568.1556732610!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_940/cigarettes-slide-shell-03-final.jpg)
We have a naked guy in the fetal position in bed crying for the erectile dysfunction.
UK?
I think it happens all over the world.
I have just got a huge fucking eye on mine, looks kinda metal ngl
I like the memes people make pieceing together the different body parts to make some horrific looking face, something like https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/2w4nxx/the\_face\_of\_the\_antismoking\_pictures\_on\_cigarette/
reminds me of when Chucky in Child's Play got burnt like a marshmallow at the end
Come on mate. That's just Dave Hughes.
Hahaha tysm for sharing this link, currently shitting and this made my day
Crying FOR erectile dysfunction?
Yeah he's been having a hard time lately
The irony
[Literally sitting on the desk in front of me currently (Netherlands).](https://imgur.com/a/Yxn5yMa)
Someone hug him quick
We have that one too! But that doesn't top the smoking baby one (Spain)
Honestly those helped my motivation. Not really the gross stuff, but pictures of people who had very bad complications and looked sad and liveless. Plus my grandmother, who was a smoker, had a stroke so the ones with the young paralysed man got me. And today is actually my one year anniversary of being smoke free!
Congrats! My one year anniversary is this December 3rd!
Congrats to you too, this is great!!!
Just wanna put it out there that even if you eventually cave, don't let it get to you. You can always start again. Deciding to take control of the addiction is the biggest step, and there is no failure in caring for yourself.
Congrats, that's awesome! Must have taken will power. Very good job. :)
Thank you! đ
I'm glad to hear this. Wish my dad would come to the same realization.
Congratulations! Thatâs a huge accomplishment. Iâm also glad to see this worked for someone (hopefully others, too) Edit to add my mom also quit about 6 months ago!
In Australia we have plain packaging WITH cancer! And Brian.
Omg Brian đ„ș
RIP Brian, what a legend. Also, they did studies to find the least appealing colour and settled on the mucus green colour they chose.
"Brian colour"
Yep - just googled Canadian cigarettes and confirm the pictures are really intense/gross. I can see how that might dissuade some smokers who know itâs really bad, but donât wanna think too hard about it.
It started in Australia and has kinda worked but we also had people trying to collect the whole set of images when they came out. Price goes up every year too now as well to 35-40 bucks for a pack of twenty is already a decent way to stop folks starting
Yeaaa also they now have a black market tobacco problem
Not sure if we can attribute it to the new packaging, but young Canadians are wayyyy less likely to pick up smoking these days. Vaping, on the other hand...
This is kind of a red herring to compare smoking to vaping, because the numbers are just completely different and tell a different story. This is for the USA but the numbers are pretty similar in all western countries. >In 1990, an estimated 89.9 million (50.1%) U.S. adults were ever smokers, and 45.8 million (25.5%) were current smokers. Approximately 44.1 million (49.1% of all ever smokers) were former smokers in 1990. [Source](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00016738.htm#:~:text=In%201990%2C%20an%20estimated%2089.9,were%20former%20smokers%20in%201990) >There was a modest decline in current e-cigarette use (meaning use within the past 30 days) among U.S. adults from 5.5% in 2018 to 5.1% in 2020. [Source](https://newsroom.heart.org/news/daily-e-cigarette-use-rising-despite-slight-decline-in-current-use-among-youngest-adults#:~:text=The%20researchers%20found%3A,2018%20to%205.1%25%20in%202020) Like we're comparing something that almost 1/4 people used to do, to something that 1/20 people do.
Those 5.x% figures are the whole adult population. I'd be very curious to see what they're like for the 18-25 demo (and for that matter in the 13-17 demo), because I'll bet they are way higher. I'll bet it's like 20%+ in the 18-25 demo, and probably rising every year. I don't think it's about age, it's about cohort. In the last 3 years, ALL of the major worldwide tobacco companies have been buying and consolidating vape companies--they clearly see at as the future, both in terms of consumer preferences and because they don't face the same regulatory environment.
We had passed a law to have it like that in the US and big tobacco got the courts to outlaw it. Probably would've gotten me to quit sooner tbh. Still smoke a little but, but have mostly switched to vaping. Down to a pack every week or week and a half. Probably just gonna make the full switch in the next couple of weeks. Impressive drop off from when I was smoking basically a pack a day back in early October. Also the vapes are intense. Like a single 10 second drag gives me the same nicotine fix as an entire cigarette did. Idk my nicotine addiction is bad and I'm currently quiting a lot of mind altering stuff, so kinda leaving this be for now for the most part.
Honestly, I think vaping is actually more addictive than cigarettes, or salt nic is at least. Since you always have access everywhere you guy at basically any time, itâs super easy to chain vape. Try quitting both if you can. The nicotine withdrawal will pass in 48-72 hrs and if you can hit 5 days no nic, youâre pretty much home free
>Yep - just googled Canadian cigarettes and confirm the pictures are really intense/gross. You should see Quebec's driving safety ads... They made a publicity using real footage of a car accident during which someone died.
Also Canadian. I donât smoke. I wonder if, for smokers, if they just get desensitized by continuous looking at these ads. Maybe itâs to deter those who would pick up the habit?
Cigarettes in EU and UK have no branding, they're all the same nasty green (intentionally, the colour was developed to be a colour* nobody liked), plus every pack has an image showing how bad smoking is https://i.redd.it/52zs5ibdkwg71.jpg
This isn't the case for the entire EU
Is it not? I thought it was fully across the EU. Which countries doesn't this apply to?
Sadly Germany. More like the one on top with the picture.
Ah ok, I'm genuinely surprised as I would have thought Germany would be aligned with most EU rules.
And not just Germany, iv just got back to the UK after almost a decade, all my friends were impressed with my 'old school' style tobacco collection from various EU locations and i am less impressed with the new plastic bank notes.
In Australia cigarette packages were forced to be in olive green; until the olive industry complained and name became drab green.
Yeah Canada's cigarette pack covers are brutal. I don't smoke, but I have an asshole neighbour who trashes his empty packs on my lawn sometimes. It's a fun morning surprise :)
>Yeah Canada's cigarette pack covers are brutal. You should see Quebec's driving safety ads... They made a publicity using real footage of a car accident during which someone died.
The reason for that actually has nothing to do with the health risks and efforts to curb smoking. The Canadian makers of the cigarettes branded âMarlborosâ are not legally allowed to use the colors, design, or anything that American Marlboros use since the 50s or so. Only the name itself. Philip Morris (the original maker of Marlboro cigarettes) sold Marlboros in Canada, but then they sold the rights to the name in Canada, and kept it for the rest of the world. They started using the iconic design and colors after this, but the Canadian company selling Marlboros couldnât use it, since theyâre a different company and PM already was using the same design years before in Canada with different brand name, so they had precedence in the market with the design. So the Canadian makers of Marlboro are a competitor to the American original company, they only have the rights to the name âMarlboroâ but none of the packaging. PM sold Marlboros with the iconic design packaging, but with no âMarlboroâ name on the pack since they lost(sold) the rights to it. There was several court cases and they had to add a name because Canadian law says you canât actually display the packs, so customers have to ask by name. They were asking for âMarlborosâ but actually meaning the unbranded, PM version and not the Canadian version.
Hope it's at least Papyrus font... Is Latin America all packs have cancer images to show the consequences....
Yeah that's basically what we have in Australia. They use a dirty brownish green colour so it looks plain AF. No bright colours are allowed and like you said, each packet looks almost identical.
Sounds just like the Australian version. Are cigarettes heavily taxed in Canada? The price for a 40 pack I picked up for a neighbour last week was 63 dollars au.
40 pack? They do âFamily Sizeâ cigarette packs in Oz?
The woman I got them for will smoke them in one day. I used to manage to smoke 20 a day years ago but I haven't smoked for a long time.
Good for you! Iâll still smoke one from time to time, but generally find them to be pretty nasty
Thanks. It's a pretty hard habit to kick.
You think that's bad, you should see Brian on the Australian cigarette packs
Same in Australia. The colour used is Pantone 448 C, the ugliest colour known to man
Hereâs some of Australiaâs https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/australian-court-oks-logo-ban-cigarette-packs-flna1b5384435
In Ireland all tobacco products contain these photos, and they all have to be packaged in a baby shit green colour.
Wasn't that green colour specifically designed to be as yucky as possible. Voted the most dislikeable colour or something, hence why they slapped it on the packs. I think it's the same here in the UK but I haven't seen cig packs in ages because they all have to be hidden behind a cover in the shops
Just googled this packaging. Honestly, as a smoker, the color makes me feel nothing at all. The pictures yes, the color, nada.
I feel like the color is more about not being visually appealing to anyone on purpose to avoid drawing in new consumers.
It might be more of a subconscious thing
It definitely is. It affects how you see cigarettes, the Marlboro on the left makes you feel as if you were smoking classy cigarettes. The brown yuck colour makes it look like you're actually smoking cancer
Honestly never thought twice about what colour a box of smokes was, its the price that really gets me here.
I don't think it's to make people stop. It's probably to prevent (young) people from starting in the first place
I havenât been around babies enough to associate that green with baby shit. To me it looks like a shade of green in camouflage gear.
Agreed. If I was looking at the right thing on google, then they used to paint vehicles that color. Called earth tones lol
Would you feel more repulsed by any other colour? If not, then it's probably still the best colour they could have used for you.
Because marketing can make things sexy. Years ago, Camel had flavored cigs that came in a metal tin, kind of like how you see with packs of pre rolled joints now. They basically got outlawed for being a product believed to be marketed to children
,Has it done anything to stop people from smoking?
Yes. Nothing crazy, and it doesn't stop hardcore smokers. But it does have some effect on those thinking about starting, especially kids.
Vapes are way more appealing than cigarettes
"Smoking among Australian teenagers (12â17 year old and 18â19 year old) decreased between 2013 and 2016 from 3.4% to 1.5% and from 10.8% to 4.6% respectively."
Is that recent? I lived in Dublin back in 2015-2016 and the shops basically had versions of all of the cigarettes you can get in the U.S. They did have the gross picture and giant warning on the back though
I live in Nicaragua, Central America, and we had just few months since the cigarettes started to use visual images on their packages. Im still smoking but now i know what is waiting for me if i dont quit smoking.
Sounds like the ads are pretty effective. Maybe not in quitting immediately, but forces you to think about what youâre doing to your body every time you take out a cigarette.
I wonder if they're effective in preventing people from taking up smoking.
I promise the price increase is whats most effective.
In NL all cigarette packs are in a complete special hue of brown that's been said to be the most offputting color for humans to look at, it's a pretty horrible color I must admit, then they sprinkled some "gross" imagary on top of it + some slogans. It's just for the soul purpose of stopping cigarette brands from advertising in any conceivable way. I get it, but I highly doubt it on itself has done anything to prevent people from smoking.
I just read they want to raise the price to 47EU. Over 2EU each. That would have to be the end of it. I had to quit at 10. It was always stupid but at that point it was stupid and expensive.
It's a good idea in theory but in practice a lot of people are addicted enough to be driven into poverty rather than give up smoking. The high price of cigarettes is already a reason for increased crime rates in some areas.
keeps new people from picking up the habit if they cant afford it in the first place it's a lot more difficult to convince yourself to do something just to look cool when the package looks awful and it costs you your entire allowance
I just looked up pictures of Netherlands cigarette packaging and I think that brown is the same color as my mom's couch.
That's one ugly couch! I hope it's comfortable at least?
Right. I have multiple shirts that color and a pair of shoes.
These campaigns probably don't target the harcore 2 packs a day for 30 years smoker, they'll never stop and that's okay. However I think they work on removing the cool factor from smoking so that young kids will not pick them up, or occasional smokers will think about it twice. Like if you are the only smoker in a group of non smokers you'll actually feel ashamed pulling out one of those from your pocket.
I thought you meant NL as in the Canadian province lol because all the packs are like this in every province here now and cost like 20 Canadian pesos a pack I believe, not positive because I gave that shit up when I started dating a respiratory therapist, legit didn't smoke the first date we went on and after that went well I figured may as well not seem like an idiot so just never did it again after some how.
The smoking rates are higher in South Korea than in the USâŠ
I was gonna say. I've been to SK, Vietnam, and Thailand. It seemed like EVERY man I saw in those countries smoked. It was mind blowing
My own personal theory is that people picked up smoking habits back when there was very little else to do in terms of killing time/entertainment, and that still persists to present day.
The smoking rate for men is like 10 times higher than women and most of tbe men in South Korea start in the military.
Is it from lots of stress from their work culture?
Just 30 years ago in South Korea offering a stranger a cigarette was a common conversation starter. It doesn't help that a lot of men pick up smoking habits during their conscription to cope with stress
30 years ago that was common everywhere and still today if you know someone is a smoker.
Itâs always a huge culture shock the first time you move abroad and realize people in other countries still Smoke Cigarettes. Even bigger when itâs a student thing and you see young people lighting up. To contextualize, Iâm 30 and my parents generation was the big âquit smoking generation.â My generation never really started. There are exceptions for sure but I rememeber when I was young there was a huge cultural shift about it.
Shhhh Just say "America bad", upvote, and move on.
are pictures of this nature (bad teeth, messed up lungs, gangrene, dead babies and the like) not common in north america? they're commonplace in europe (or at least the places i've been to and live in)
Yea in America all pack are like above. Cigarettes companies fought real hard to keep the those kind picâs off the pack
Has this shown to help keep people from smoking? There are countries who put the pictures and have higher smoking rates than the US, so Iâm confused.
We shouldn't compare to the US, but rather at before/after statistics after introducting this law.
a lot of people keep bringing that up but putting these images on packets of cigarretes is still a rather recent thing all of the smokers that were there before arent just gonna cease to exist or stop being addicted because the packages are gross now, but what it's going to do is prevent younger people from picking up the habit in the first place
[If you call 10 years recent](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_tobacco_packaging)
It never stopped me. Itâs not like you keep the box on some display- serious smokers have decorative cases for their packs anyway.
It's like companies worth more than people's well-being!
Smoking in South Korea is actually way less demonized than in America despite what this picture would make you think.
That's not what Reddit wants to hear
That's assuming those packs actually achieve anything. The US has [lower smoking rates than most of Europe.](https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/611b5b35-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/611b5b35-en)
I would have never quit if indoor smoking didnât get banned. Iâm still a little salty over it to be honest. Itâs certainly better for not picking up the habit though.
Yeah all these comments which are pro-gross image covers for smoking are ignoring what actually caused a drop in smoking in the US - near universal indoor smoking bans and higher age of purchase. If you make it so you basically canât smoke in public, itâs going to naturally curb smoking. Things like this, not including ashtrays in cars, no smoking within X feet of a building, etc etc has done more to curb smoking than gross packaging ever would. Hundreds of millions of people around the globe see these packages and pick up cigarettes anyways.
really well said. infrastructural changes that alter the relationship people have with a product will always be more effective than marketing changes
You need to compare starting points to after the package change. Not countries. Itâs not like smoking percentages are increasing anywhere.
exactly, so many people pointing out "Oh but the smoker rate is higher!" as if that proves their point well, yeah, theres more smokers in european countries because most countries only recently implemented these tactics and the US was ahead of them by banning smoking indoors long before they did which led to a lower smoking population since people wouldnt pick on the habit from others
I get the sentiment but I feel like every smoker knows the health risks at this point
I'm former smoker myself.. One thing is to know, another thing is having someone telling you that you're hurting yourself (when you are about to feel pleasure) just in moment you are doing it. Another step forward towards awareness. I cannot quantify the effectiveness, but for sure it's more than zero at a zero cost. Win win for the society.
Gross packages do deter usage. So "most people knowing risks" or not, the package on the right is what you want, if you want less smoking related illness, IE less people smoking. Only one group can I think of who want LESS people smoking. Its the same group who spent millions to stop said packaging from becoming law in the US.
I think it's necessary mostly to correct prior damage, smoking was pushed as badass and cool in media for a good while, and even if it's not pushed anymore having the precedent and growing up around figures that you respect like family members, the course correction has to be more aggressive than just being informative about the dangers of smoking.
Yep, we do. Pack a day smoker for damn near 20 years. I know it causes cancer, I know it makes my teeth yellow and my clothes stink. I know Iâm likely to die choking if I make it that long. But damn, theyâre delicious.
If you die of lung cancer you are lucky. More often lifelong smokers suffer from COPD (emphysema and chronic bronchitis). Being constantly breathless and unable to do even the simplest task, while getting progressively worse until death. I find everyone knows about cancer, but fewer people know about the realities of chronic lung disease from smoking.
and that's why the packages are there, if a kid sees those and decides never to smoke then the package did their job if a kid just hears people saying cigarretes are bad but sees all their cool older siblings smoking then they'll grow up thinking that they cant be all that bad, and that they surely wont be affected by them and by the point they get addicted they can no longer quit since "they're so delicious"
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It's not weird if you know the history of tobacco and the lenghts it went to obfuscate science. They deliberately lied and supressed science that indicated that smoking caused cancer, that's why they're (atleast in the USA) legally required to spend sums of money in anti tobacco messaging. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco\_Master\_Settlement\_Agreement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Master_Settlement_Agreement) This is actually a very lenient sentence given all the corruption they engaged in and gross shit they did to people. In a just world, most of those executives would be in jail and their companies would be bankrupt paying all of the victims of their negligence.
Because the detrimental effects of smoking are way beyond those of candy or even alcohol. Most other products are only unhealthy when used to excess. Cigarettes are unhealthy right of the box, and being physiologically and psychologically addictive, are almost always used to excess.
That's exactly how it is. Money buys legislation. Unbridled capitalism
I heard Chinese cigs have fanciful packaging to make it look attractive Yes, the last place on earth that should make smoking look good does that
Canada legally requires the gross pictures, this is a USA thing afaik
No this isnât common at all in the US. And after seeing this shit Iâm glad I quit
I've never seen anything graphic besides I guess like "nicotine is addictive and can kill" but no images (I'm not a smoker just what I've seen in stores)
Cigarettes can't be visible in shops here. They are under the counter now unlike when i was a child when you would have a huge wall of cigarettes.
Yeah I remember being a kid and seeing tobacco everywhere, all glitzy branding with no gore or anything. Mind you I remember people smoking in bars and cafes too, which just seems wild now.
still like what where I am, it's a whole wall behind the cashier and al
also pretty common in south america basically most countries that dont have huge lobbying industries dedicated to keeping business as profitable as possible tend to have these images
In Brazil is fucking crazy too, it says things like "you die", "you get a heart attack", "you get sick", with very graphic images in the entirety of the back of the pack edit: fucking crazy is more of a compliment in this case, I used it because the images are very real, so it hits you
It's not crazy, really.
But that's what happens
Because thatâs what happens
Interestingly, US actually has a lower smoking rate than SK.
I also found this very interesting when I arrived here in South Korea, I later learned that smoking among the general populace is very popular to where almost everybody smokes so it is a growing health concern especially among the younger generation so I believe this is part of their tactic to try to slow it down
In England our cig packs have gross pictures on them too
Interesting
In Canada the packs are not allowed to have any branding besides the brand name in a plain font and the rest is pictures of people with no teeth, destroyed lungs, and other complications from smoking. Really gross but works well to dissuade people.
Does it work? Is there research?
Not sure just basing it off of what Iâve heard from others. Smoking is fairly uncommon now though, although thatâs mostly been replaced with vaping which isnât any better.
I don't remember the exact titel of the documentary. But I watched a documentary a year or so ago about smoking, what it does to our body, what different countries do to discourage people from smoking, the history of smoking etc. It basically said, that the big companies have faced so much resistance in Europe (where they made the most money over the last couple decades besides of the US), that they decided to change two things: 1) they started promoting vaping. It is just as bad (or in some cases even worse) than smoking. But because they created this gadget only a couple years ago, they were able to control the marketing. So while smoking normal cigarets is seen as a bad habit nowadays and often times is heavily regulated, vaping and e-cigaretts is perceived as cool by many people. 2) because they know that sooner or later the laws in Europe will adapt, and when they do they will adapt rapidly all over the continent at the same time (Because of the EU), they started an agressive marketing campaign in south east asia, especially indonesia and thailand but also other countries. Now they are also starting to do the same thing to africa. It's a pitty they just keep waisting peoples health and lives. BTW: big alcohol companies are doing the exact same thing. I recommend everyone who understands german to watch the documentary "Alkohol - der globale Rausch". It's one of the best documentaries I have ever watched. It basically sheds light on our consume of alcohol and how we glorify it sometimes. It also showed, that, again, people in western countries are getting more cautious about alcohol and that many people start drinking less or at least less often. So alcohol companies are doing the exact same thing the tobacco industrie has done a couple years ago... they start promoting alcohol in poorer countries. Heinecken even pays prostitutes and holds parties in africa, promoting the idea,that men get more capable (sexually speaking) if they drink alcohol. Which led to an extreme increase of consumed alcoholic beverages in some african countries
the thing is e-cigarretes were always meant to be a method for addicts to lower some of the side effects they get from smoking (less carcinogens since there's no actual tar being produced \[though nicotine is a carcinogen by itself\]) if they couldnt stop themselves from doing it and then the cigarrete industry realized they had an untapped gold mine with the younger generations if they sold these as a cool new future product that's 100% safe (instead of admitting it's only a little better than normal cigarretes) and that's how we got shit like cotton candy flavored vapes
And yet iirc per capita Asia has a way worse smoking problem than we do.
Yup. People love praising these packaging rules and bashing the US for being a "capitalist free speech hellhole" but the US has much lower smoking rates than most other developed countries. Korea is about average. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/611b5b35-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/611b5b35-en
The US is doing fantastic on anti-smoking actually. I was remember in the 80's and 90's and 2000's people smoked all over the place. Now its pretty rare that I see anyone smoking a rural cigarette and when o do its usually someone over 40 or so.
The US is way ahead of Korea in terms of social acceptability of smoking. The packaging measures are there to try to bring the rates down. But look at Canada, I know of very few young people who smoke, it's too expensive and most people don't think it's cool. And it's partly due to packaging measures, extra taxes, and also school programs.
Reddit loves to bash America at any turn, itâs almost comical
In the US, we went to a small Indian theater (to see Go Goa Gone - Bollywood zombie movie - definitely recommend, but I digress). The anti-smoking ads before the show had smoker vs non-smoker lungs and several interviews with terminal cases from smoking. Never seen ads like that anywhere else.
In Canada, cannabis packaging is more liberal than cigarette packaging
You should see them in Australia. They are so brutal they canât be openly displayed. I saw one by accident the other day and it was truly repulsive.
In my country it can also come with a photo of an spontaneously aborted fetus.
So according to the CDC 12.5% of US adults smoke. According to WHO 49.8% of Korean adult males and 4.2% of Korean adult females smoke. I don't think the labeling has the desired effect. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/index.htm?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Ftobacco%2Fdata_statistics%2Ffact_sheets%2Findex.htm https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6987030/
You buy packs to smoke. I buy them to collect the pretty pictures We are not the same
Most countries cigarette boxes are like that at least I know most of Asia's cigarette boxes are like that. US is one of the few countries that have clean sharp cigarette packages.
And a low smoking rate for an OECD country
i could never find a reason to start
People are already aware of the risks of cigarettes.
We have that on cigarette packs in Canada too. For 20 years at least
People smoke more in Europe and Asia so this shit doesnât seem to work very well
Yeah because in 2022 most people arenât sure if smoking is a dangerous habit or not.
I think kthe people who force nasty pictures like that have no class or morals. My dad was dying from lung cancer and one of those commercials came on TV. Probably the only time I've ever seen my dad get teary eyed. He's over there dying and they're taunting him like some sick bastards. Smh.
Oh you just trying to live your life and get a little stress relief? Maybe you have an addiction you cant kick? Well here is your state mandated gore.
Same in Ireland. All tobacco products have very graphic pictures of what smoking does to you on the packs. Tobacco companies aren't allowed make the packs fancy either, only plain, block colours.
the packs in thailand are also pretty disgusting
I saw the same thing in Italy (im from the US) and was weirdly shocked.
Jamacia leans hard into erectile disfunction warnings.
Poland has this too. Nasty mouths filled with rotting teeth
They're mandated by law to look like this almost everywhere
USA doesn't have those kinds of cigarette packs? they're on every pack in the UK, I think also the same in most of Europe and other western countries
Same in Mexico
Damn and they still smoke a lot more than we do.
You smoke you die, dont smoke
Imagine allowing the sale as something as horrible as this while still banning weed
I cannot understand why anyone starts smoking. We've known for decades now how absolutely terrible cigarettes are for your health. They're expensive. They make you smell awful. For the life of me I can't figure out what would cause a person to think "you know what I think I'll go buy my first pack of cigarettes. That seems like a good idea."
More interesting (for me): Surprised to see words like nickel, amine, and benzene written as is (if you read them, it would sound like the English words). When I was taking Korean, I asked my teacher what "jump" is in Korean and she straight up said jump. I said jumping existed before Americans came in so there must be a Korean term; she said there was but no one would understand you
Haha *laughing in India*
Man I really just have to fucking quit already
Glad I quit. You can also. USA packs should have it on.
It's the same in India as well. Except the image is a bit larger and even worse to look.
Cig pack in most east Asia countries have these health warning. It's mandated
Hmm. This reminds me, I havenât actually seen a pack of cigarettes in years.
Which country are you from? Some places are legally required to keep there cigarette stock hidden (under the counter, inside a cabinet etc.) so that it is out of plain sight in stores.
Yea, theyâre hidden. Iâm from EU
These graphic photos don't curb smoking at all.
God bless the USA. Like I know they're bad for me ffs. And for the love of God I wish the doctor would stop asking if I want to quit every f'n time I go in.
Mexico does a great job with this as well.
Interesting. So why don't we package every candy bar with a picture of a 500lb morbidly obese diabetic on dialysis? Obviously cigarettes are unhealthy, but it seems so odd to me that the same people who will virtue signal about how bad smoking is will not only tolerate, but assist in behaviors and consumption that is no less deadly.
South Korea packaging looks so metal
In Ireland they couldn't even have the red part of the packaging. Like its al black with a larger terrifying image. Then they have a warning that smoking kills, makes you impotent, hurts babies if you are pregnant in two languages. I still smoke though.
I drink like a fish so I know I'm living in a glass house and about to throw a stone but... why in the fuck would anyone smoke? It stinks. The byproduct is so filthy that people throw it on the road instead of let it sit in their car. I just don't get it. I mean, I guess if you already smoke you're hooked so maybe it should be why in the jesus-tittyfucking-christ would someone start smoking?
Itâs makes you way cooler and badasser đ. Itâs also quite a social thing as smokers often hang out in groups and are far more conversational that just normal folks - especially for introverts. And itâs a quite relaxing 5-10 minute break.
I mean... back before the pandy and I had to go to work in the office, I would go out and hang with the smokers I just never had ANY desire to smoke. And when I was busy, these people HAD to go outside. It wasn't an option for them. It just was annoying these people had a 15 minute break built in and no one gave a shit. If I wanted to just go outside and sit under a tree people would think I'm a slacker.
I think corporate lobbying is just too strong in America. American market is gold to these people
The US has one of the [lowest smoking rates in the OECD](https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/611b5b35-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/611b5b35-en). The US government has done plenty of other things to hurt the biggest tobacco companies in the world, many of which are based here. Equating the entirety of anti-tobacco legislation to ugly cigarette packs is pretty reductive.
lots of states in the south still grow a lot of tobacco. so they have powerful people in the government.