Washington Times Editorial - Plain packaging of smokes

[Vocalek]

EDITORIAL: Branded smokes


The latest restriction dear to the hearts of nanny states is a ban of attractive packaging for cigarettes. Instead of colorful logos and trademarks that differentiate brands, every pack of cigarettes must look alike, with the same prominent government warning.


This idea, known as “plain packaging,” was first implemented two years ago when Australia eliminated “branding” on all tobacco products. Everything from the red roof on Marlboros to the yellow rings around Cohibas vanished, part of the country’s “experiment” to reduce smoking.


Cigarettes sold by the tobacco companies increased during the first year of the regulation, reversing what had been a four-year decline, as the black market prospered. Smokers Down Under don’t cotton to the dreary packaging, and they prefer their Marlboros, Dunhills and Kents in their familiar full regalia. Like an ‘80s Soviet teenager craving a pair of Levi’s, Australian smokers want smuggled cigarettes with the old branding, and sales increased by more than 150 percent.


Read more: EDITORIAL: Branded smokes - Washington Times
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My favorite comment on the story so far:

That does it, I'm quitting. The only reason I smoke cigarettes at all is because of how cool the box looks when I take one out.

I liked this one, too:

Wait until you go to the supermarket and have to explain to your kids why you're buying them cereal with 80% of the box covered with pictures of obese, bed-ridden people with oozing bed sores. Or until you'll find most of the surface of your bottle of beer sporting pics of bruised and battered wives, dismembered and bloody drunk driving corpses, and diseased livers.

After all, it's "for the children," right?

 

[Jman8]

Would need pictures of people shrugging (we just don't know) on vaping supply labels.