5.27 Reducing product appeal
Show / hide chapter menu
Cigarettes can have appeal to children in both real and fake forms. As discussed in Section 5.16.1 above, use of confectionery cigarettes in childhood has been associated with later uptake of smoking.170 Confectionary explicitly resembling cigarettes (such as the 'Fags' popular with Australian children in the 1970s and 1980s) or cigars is now banned by state legislation.
In 2005, flavoured tobacco cigarettes appeared on the market in some Australian states and territories. Flavour and scent options in the DJ Mix brand included strawberry and green apple, with complementary packaging in shades of 'strawberry' pink and 'apple green'. The resemblance in flavour, smell and name to bubblegum and other products popular with children seems difficult to deny, as evidenced in an observed online chatroom dialogue on an Australian website among young people comparing flavours of cigarettes they have tried and preferred.320 In a US study of college students, flavoured cigarettes elicited higher positive expectancies and fewer negatives than non-flavored cigarettes among both smokers and nonsmokers.174 Negative or non-pleasurable experiences of a first cigarette can deter or delay further experimentation and are potentially a powerful tool for prevention,98 adding weight to the imperative to monitor and regulate the palatability of cigarettes on the Australian (and overseas) market.
It also seems hard to argue that sweet or fruit-flavoured cigarettes are targeted at long-term brand loyal adult smokers, as was stressed in a number of press releases issued by tobacco control and health organisations around Australia when fruit brands first appeared in the Australian market. ACT and SA have responded by prohibiting the sale of such products, and it would appear that the negative publicity has had some effect, with the products never making it to the shelves in some states and territories, and disappearing after a while in others. Novel flavoured cigarettes are also discussed in Chapter 10, Section 10.7.1. Their regulation and control is detailed in Chapter 12, Section 12.8.
The way cigarettes are packaged can also enhance their appeal to children and young people. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Australian state and federal legislation pre-empted the appealing size and price of 'kiddie' and 'toddler' packs marketed in some other countries and banned the sale of cigarettes in packets of fewer than 20 (see Section 5.16.3 above and Chapter 10, Section 10.7.9). Deterring the visual appeal of tobacco to children has also been one of the strong precipitants for health warning labelling and graphic health warnings (see Chapter 12, Attachment 12.3) and advocacy for generic (plain) packaging (see Chapter 11, Section 11.6).
Copyright © 2010 The Cancer Council. All rights reserved.