This morning the newspaper informed me that the display of cigarette packets in shops is going to be banned. They're also going to insist that they're sold in plain white or brown packaging. Aside from being just another step in the war against freedom of choice, I really have to wonder who thought this was a good idea?
Seriously, which smokers out there are buying cigarettes because they like the brightly-coloured packaging? And how many of them are going to be deterred because they can't see the packets behind the counter in the shop? A lot of smokers going cold turkey would cheerfully kick their granny to get a fag, I doubt any are going to be put off by having to rummage under a veiled counter.
Presumably, the idea is to get children to stop smoking. Well, again, is this going to make any difference at all? All those ten-year-olds who are puffing away aren't going into the shops and gazing lovingly up at the displays of delicious nicotine, before choosing the best-looking packet. No, they're lurking in the nearest alleyway having bribed an 'adult' to go buy them for them, which kind of gets around the display issue. Either that or they're buying them by the fag at vastly inflated prices...again, the colour of the packet and the prominence of the display isn't making a damn bit of difference. And once they've started, the nicotine takes hold, and they're in the exact same place as all the other addicts who don't give the slightest degree of a shit about what colour the packet is. Or indeed the dire warnings and pictures of damaged lungs carried on packets...
So what is this actually going to do? Well, essentially, now people aren't going to be able to see the prices. So they'll probably go to the cheaper brands - all this is going to do is mess with the competition levels in the tobacco industry. Maybe there'll be a move towards rolling tobacco rather than pre-packaged cigarettes, generally a bit cheaper...in any case, that's probably why the tobacco industries are railing against the idea, rather than just cultivating their evil image.
In terms of the actual aims of the project, this is really going to do is cost £40 million. That's right, £40 million to hide the fags from view, to make life slightly less difficult for smokers. Isn't there some more constructive way they could be stopping kids from taking up smoking with that £40 mil? And I don't mean one of those cod advertising campaigns where they show passive smoke strangling a baby or burning down the house, I mean something that's actually affecting the societal malaise that leads children to find smoking 'cool'. We need an approach that is actually imaginative and original, which stands a chance of succeeding - not one that just covers up the problem.
