Tobacco warnings as promotional aids?

At the TICAP Conference in Brussels back in January, guest speaker Dr John Luik pointed out the lack of impact that anti-smoking messages on packets actually have. He suggested that if one truly wished to stop kids from taking up smoking, the best message would be ...

Your parents think smoking is cool

It seems that ad men would tend to agree.

Following the new federal legislation signed off by President Obama last week, pressure will focus on forcing manufacturers to include more warnings, and even perhaps to alter packaging drastically, to appease the health nutters.

DJ Stout, an award-winning branding and packaging design expert for Pentagram Global, was asked to come up with some designs should Marlboro seek their services in the future.

Stout suggests that to comply with the crackdown, tobacco companies should embrace the restrictions and make cigarettes look truly dangerous.

“Over the years there has been an onslaught of public awareness messaging about the evils of smoking,” says Stout. “Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last 50 years you are very aware that smoking is not only bad for you, it could very likely kill you. All smokers know this for sure but it doesn’t deter them.

“Our marketing advice to cigarette companies in the new heavily regulated era is to fully accept the new aggressive anti-smoking restrictions and wallow in the government’s apocalyptic health warnings. Don’t make excuses or dance around the stepped-up marketing regulations, just transform the whole cigarette pack into a three dimensional warning label.”

Can you spot the one-fingered salute inherent in them?




One would assume that the swivel-eyed US tobacco control lobby would be orgasmic about such packets, completely oblivious (again) to the fact that such warnings have no effect whatsoever ... hence why an advertising expert is proposing them.