Standard Packs: Making change happen

Dr. Jean KingDirector of Tobacco Control, Cancer Research UK

Standard packs -Making change happenEAC Workshop, Dublin 30.5.13

Jean King & Robin HewingsCancer Research UK

Packs are designed to be attractive and communicate the “personality” of a brand; just as designer products are social cues to style, status, values and character,

cigarettes can be “badge products”

Evidence shows that tobacco branding works

“Plain packaging” could look like this:

Example based on the packs Australia plans to introduce.

Duty paid stamp

remains

Standardised method of

opening

Removal of branding

Health warning remains

Brand name in standard type face, colour &

size

Standardised shapeStandardised

colour

How we know

Systematic review commissioned by the UK Department of Health

Tobacco industry documents examined by Cancer Research UK researchers

•A total of 37 key studies were included that met stringent methodological and relevance criteria•Leading Cancer Research UK researchers were involved

•Released as part of legal action in the USA•Obtained by the Health Select Committee in 1999•Trade journals and magazines

The systematic review looked at quantitative research

All 19 quantitative studies examining the attractiveness of plain packs found they were less attractive than branded equivalent packs

Those studies that tested a range of branded and unbranded packs found that, the plainer the pack, the less attractive it became

Qualitative research fitted with these findings

10 studies examined appeal - four themes explain why plain packs rated as less attractive, of lower quality and had a poorer image

13 studies looked at perceptions of smoker identity and personality

•Have colours with negative connotations•Weaken attachment to brands•Project a less desirable smoker identity•Expose the reality of smoking

Plain packs consistently received lower ratings for attributes (such as ‘popular’ and ‘cool’) than branded packs

.. and reflect the findings of focus group research done by Cancer Research UK researchers

“It looks as if you’re more mature. Better and more popular.”

It makes me feel quite cool ... It makes you feel stylish and that, kind of upper class.”

Some branded packs had an emotional impact, with teenagers saying: Talking about feminine

‘superslim’ cigarettes, girls said:

“If any of them are attractive, it’s that one just because it’s kind of perfume shaped”.

“They look too colourful to be harmful.”

Tobacco documents examined by Cancer Research UK researchers

Internal documents show:

•Brand packaging is a key promotional tool and its importance has grown as it becomes one of the last marketing vehicles•Young people and females have been especially targeted

Quotes from the industry

An internal Philip Morris presentation said: “Our final communication vehicle with our smokers is the pack itself. In the absence of any other marketing messages, our packaging… is the sole communicator of our brand essence. Put another way: When you don’t have anything else, our packaging is our marketing.”

President of Brown and Williamson (a subsidiary of BAT): “... if you smoke, a cigarette pack is one of the few things you use regularly that makes a statement about you. A cigarette pack is the only thing you take out of your pocket 20 times a day and lay out for everyone to see.”

An audit of the tobacco retail press in 2009-2011 shows the importance of packaging

An increasing number of mentions of innovative packaging

A number of reports in the retail press of how new packaging designs have boosted sales

Silk Cut Superslims led to year on year growth of 122% between 2008 and 2009

The Marlboro Bright Leaf opens like a cigarette lighter with a ‘click’ sound

The tobacco industry has every reason to hate plain packaging...

It reduces the attractiveness of their products and is estimated to lose them billions in profits

The tobacco industry campaign started quietly but seeing our campaign rapidly escalated in June

Front groups

Media stories Advertising

Field marketing

Brands will only compete on price - smoking will become cheaper

...but their arguments are weak

Trademark rights are arbitrarily appropriated by the Government

Any fall in price can be offset by a rise in tax to prevent cigarettes becoming more affordable

Nothing is confiscated – plain packaging only regulates how trademarks are used – they regularly lose court cases

Shall shopkeepers can’t easily find packets and so lose custom

Research shows that plain packs are as easy and quick to serve

Claims about smuggling do not make sense

Luk Joossens’s report showsThe tobacco industry exaggerates the scale of smuggling

• The tobacco industry has a poor record on smuggling • The existing packs are already easy to forge• They’re so cheap to make they cannot get any cheaper

• While still a problem, it has halved since its peak to 10% for cigarettes. • This is due to better enforcement by government agencies and strict curbs on the tobacco industry’s own activities. • Tobacco industry data is not reliable

Making change happen – advocacy toolkit

Use as many advocacy tools as possible:

1. Work in coalition

2. Develop, package and disseminate the evidence: journal papers,

reports, briefings

3. Identify your champions in Parliament: provide them with

briefings, speeches, use them to speak at events

4. Meet with key decision makers - MPs, civil servants etc

5. Understand the politics - process and priorities; hold events and

photo opportunities for MPs

Advocacy toolkit

Use as many advocacy tools as possible:

6. Gain maximum media coverage - new statistics, studies, letters to

editors, opinion polls, photo opportunities; use scientists, doctors,

patients, CEOs

7. Find and use celebrity spokespeople

8. Develop and use public support – explain the issues and get them

to write to/meet their MPs/sign petitions etc

9. Oppose the tobacco industry – rebut its arguments on all possible

occasions; expose industry-funded front groups

10. Develop a broad coalition

Coalition working

• Some funded coordination is essential

• Play to each others strengths and respect the different remits and levels

of resources that each can bring

• Develop consensus by reviewing the evidence, assessing the politics,

agreeing the objectives and tactics

• Be prepared to work collaboratively and sometimes let others take the

credit

• Remember the common goal and the common enemy-when we are not

united, the tobacco industry wins

Plain standard packs – a lot done...

• 79,000 CR-UK supporters responded to the consultation –over 6,000 have

emailed MPs since

• Poll for CR-UK shows 63% support and only 16% oppose

• Engaged with hundreds of MPs through Ambassadors, meetings, shop

visits, party conference

• Over 1,800 pieces of media coverage in 2012 /early 2013

• Policy reports on tobacco packaging and smuggling

• CR-UK video of kids looking at packs- over half a million hits

• cruk.org/standard-packs

... There’s still a lot to do. Thank you Ireland for making it easier

Public affairs:

• Intensive Cabinet engagement and parliamentary meetings and

events.

Campaigns:

• New creative assets to bring the campaign to life.

• Ambassadors targeting different groups of support:

health professionals, parents, teachers, smokers.Policy:

• More briefings and rebuttals.

• New research from Australia.

• Funding and publicising new UK research.