Pictorial warning on cigarette packets

Considering the huge public health benefits, it is imperative that the concerned authorities do its best to enforce pictorial warnings. Laws without strict enforcement are only suggestions

According to a report published in The Independent recently as much as 75 per cent bidi and cigarette packets are being marketed without the mandatory pictorial warning. The fact is a vast majority tobacco users are poor and less exposed to awareness campaigns. Hence, pictorial images on the packets are the most believed to be the effective and powerful way to communicate health risks to this population. These images also provoke a greater emotional response, decrease tobacco consumption and increase motivation to quit.
Various studies indicate that due graphic warnings, 58 per cent of smokers in Canada and nearly 54 per cent in Brazil and Thailand changed their opinion about the health consequences of smoking. In Nepal, pictorial health warning covers 90 percent of the size of the cigarette packet.
Enhanced pictorial health warning will lead to a drop in the sales of cigarettes, which is the purpose of the move, and the government should also not lose sight of the fact that loss of revenue to the government will be more than compensated through savings in curative health expenditures made on diseases caused by smoking. Furthermore, with a larger warning on locally-manufac­tured cigarette packets, it will become easier for law-enforce­ment agencies to distinguish between smuggled and local cigarettes.
Health warning labels on tobacco products including pictorial warning constitute the most cost-effective tool for educating smokers and non-smokers alike about the health risks of tobacco use. In many countries, more smokers report getting information about the health risks of smoking from warning labels than any other source. Additionally, non-smokers, including children, report high awareness of warning labels. Theories in social and health psychology, supported by empirical studies, have demonstrated the superiority of using pictures and imagery over text-only messages in health communication.
Many research studies have demonstrated that “fear appeals” are effective in motivating health behaviour change (e.g. quitting), especially if paired with information about how to avoid the fearful consequences. For decades, the tobacco industry has taken advantage of the packet as a venue for creating positive associations for their product. The use of graphic pictures is an important means of replacing those positive associations with negative associations, which is far more appropriate given the devastating impact of tobacco products on global health.
Tobacco smoking is considered the first preventable cause of death in the world. Unlike other measures, excise duty hike and bigger, graphic pictorial warnings are easy to enforce and have the highest impact on tobacco consumption.

 

Pictorial warning on cigarette packets

Considering the huge public health benefits, it is imperative that the concerned authorities do its best to enforce pictorial warnings. Laws without strict enforcement are only suggestions

According to a report published in The Independent recently as much as 75 per cent bidi and cigarette packets are being marketed without the mandatory pictorial warning. The fact is a vast majority tobacco users are poor and less exposed to awareness campaigns. Hence, pictorial images on the packets are the most believed to be the effective and powerful way to communicate health risks to this population. These images also provoke a greater emotional response, decrease tobacco consumption and increase motivation to quit. Various studies indicate that due graphic warnings, 58 per cent of smokers in Canada and nearly 54 per cent in Brazil and Thailand changed their opinion about the health consequences of smoking. In Nepal, pictorial health warning covers 90 percent of the size of the cigarette packet. Enhanced pictorial health warning will lead to a drop in the sales of cigarettes, which is the purpose of the move, and the government should also not lose sight of the fact that loss of revenue to the government will be more than compensated through savings in curative health expenditures made on diseases caused by smoking. Furthermore, with a larger warning on locally-manufactured cigarette packets, it will become easier for law-enforcement agencies to distinguish between smuggled and local cigarettes. Health warning labels on tobacco products including pictorial warning constitute the most cost-effective tool for educating smokers and non-smokers alike about the health risks of tobacco use. In many countries, more smokers report getting information about the health risks of smoking from warning labels than any other source. Additionally, non-smokers, including children, report high awareness of warning labels. Theories in social and health psychology, supported by empirical studies, have demonstrated the superiority of using pictures and imagery over text-only messages in health communication. Many research studies have demonstrated that fear appeals are effective in motivating health behaviour change (e.g. quitting), especially if paired with information about how to avoid the fearful consequences. For decades, the tobacco industry has taken advantage of the packet as a venue for creating positive associations for their product. The use of graphic pictures is an important means of replacing those positive associations with negative associations, which is far more appropriate given the devastating impact of tobacco products on global health. Tobacco smoking is considered the first preventable cause of death in the world. Unlike other measures, excise duty hike and bigger, graphic pictorial warnings are easy to enforce and have the highest impact on tobacco consumption.