Experts hit out at 'sick' pro-smoking labels
Pro-smoking stickers designed to cover up Government health warnings on cigarette boxes are a sick joke aimed at young smokers, health experts have claimed.
Professor Luke Clancy, chairman of anti-smoking lobby group ASH, said the slogans would appeal to kids lured into the hyper-addictive world.
“It’s probably aimed at younger people who are more susceptible, and it’s another form of rebellion. If you look at the medium, the internet is more for young people.
“It is perverting what we are trying to do in this island, if it is internet based it is certainly people who are better off and younger, the younger ones are more likely to go online.
“It is an effort to underline the laws of the country but it may well be legal if it is internet based. I just hope that people will see it as another effort to dupe them, lull them into a false sense of security or fool them.
“It’s the same basis as smoking, there’s a lot of talk about freedom of choice but the industry takes away that choice by saying to you ‘look this is cool’.”
The labels are on offer on the internet for as little as €4.26, with cheap cigarettes and other paraphernalia also for sale.
The stickers feature slogans such as ‘smoking is cool’, ‘smoking makes you look big and clever’, ‘you will get fat if you stop smoking’ or ‘you’ve got to die of something’ and ‘non-smokers may cause irritation’.
Prof Clancy, a consultant physician of respiratory diseases at St James’ Hospital Dublin, said tobacco firms were obsessed with ending the health warnings and plastering packs with brand names – the last refuge for advertising.
He called on the Government to follow the Canadian example by displaying shocking images of illness and death on cigarette packets to deter smokers.
Pictures of cancer victims, smoking-related diseases and the effect of poisonous tar and toxins on the body leap out from the boxes to put off would be puffers.
“We know that the industry is worried about health and they know the packet is the one way that they can advertise now,” he said.
“There’s a big battle about how big the warnings should be. The industry wants the minimum and the anti-smoking groups want the maximum. I’m not an expert on marketing but there’s a big science involved in this.”
He warned, however, there was evidence to suggest shock tactics only had a short term impact.
Prof Clancy said campaigners had to be quick-witted when marketing the benefits of kicking the evil weed.
“Shock tactics have little or no effect if they are constantly there, it’s a temporary method, and they have to be gross to have an effect,” he said.
“It is now believed it is having a significant effect and industry is doing everything in its power to stop. But it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.”
Prof Clancy said Ireland was already a world leader in health promotion by introducing the blanket ban on smoking in the workplace, but more action was needed.
Revenue figures have shown a steady drop in cigarette sales since the ban was brought in earlier this year, the downward trend has also accelerated over the last seven months.
Statistics for the first nine months of the year showed an annual fall of more than 14% in clearances.
The department expects to collect €1,030m in tobacco excise this year, €128m below forecast.
The Office of Tobacco Control said overall compliance levels with the ban fell from 97% in April to 94% in September.
