Canada's smokers defy horror
The cigarette industry in the North American country has to print shock images on its packsBy Werner CatrinaCanada is serious about its detour through the Middle Ages to a cigarette-free society. From June
The cigarette industry in North America has to print shock images on its packsBy Werner CatrinaCanada is serious about its detour through the Middle Ages to a cigarette-free society. From June blickThe cigarette industry in the North American country has to print shock images on its packsBy Werner Catrina
Canada is serious about its detour through the Middle Ages to a cigarette-free society. From June, smokers buying packs of cigarettes will be faced with
16 different medical horror stories. There are already protests, and even convinced non-smokers do not necessarily consider the official measures to be suitable.
"The picture with the mouth cancer is the most off-putting," says Tom Lee, "the subject with the pregnant woman is less drastic." Tom Lee is a kiosk owner at a Mini Mart in Missisauga, a suburb of Toronto. For a few weeks now, he has been receiving cigarette packs with gruesome photos printed on them from suppliers. Back in 1994, all packs had to read "Cigarettes cause cancer/La cigarette cause le cancer" in large letters in two languages. This was because the message also needed to be understood in the French-speaking province of Quebec.
16 horror subjects "decorate"
the cigarette packets
Last year, the Canadian government decided that all cigarette packs sold in the country must feature deterrent images in future. There are a total of 16 images to choose from, ranging from a man coughing to blood clots in the brain to black lungs. Each is accompanied by an explanatory text. For example: "Warning: Cigarettes cause brain strokes. Smoking tobacco can clog your arteries to the brain, blocking blood flow and causing a stroke, which can lead to disability and death."
As a Christmas present to Canadian smokers, so to speak, the law came into force on
The law came into force on December 23, 2000 and has since provoked a flood of comments and letters to the editor. There is still a grace period until June 2001, when every pack of cigarettes sold in Canada must carry the ultimate warning. Imports of packs without the deterrent images will then be prohibited, which is likely to drastically reduce the supply of cigarettes in the North American country.
Futile struggle of the
Cigarette industry
The Canadian cigarette industry did everything it could to defeat the government's new escalation in the fight against smoking. They fought with the best lawyers against the impending photos and condemned the law as unconstitutional. In vain. In response, the three largest Canadian cigarette manufacturers, Imperial Tobacco, JTI-Macdonald Corp. and Rothmans, Benson and Hedges Inc. tried to get at least a delay in the deadline, arguing that they needed more time to design the layout and match the colors of the packs to the photos. These efforts were also unsuccessful, as the government in Ottawa is hell-bent on bringing the cigarette industry to its knees.
Images are still much stronger than words of warning
According to a report in the Journal of the Canadian Cancer Institute, a two-year study by the Canadian Cancer Society has shown that pictures leave a much more lasting impression than words. According to the study, 88 percent of under-18s rated photos as significantly more powerful than words. The survey also revealed that the majority of young smokers did not want anyone to see them with the deterrent illustrated packs, which increases the motivation to quit.
Marie-José Lapointe, spokesperson for the Canadian cigarette and cigar manufacturers, explains in an interview in The Globe and Mail newspaper: "Rebellion is the motive of many young smokers; warnings of this kind could therefore have the opposite effect." And the president of the association, Rob Parker, goes one better: "Some young people will say: 'Oh, great! I'll buy the whole set with all 16 subjects'."
Even the Canadian Council for Non-Smoking calls the new packs "medical pornography" and demands "more positive" forms of warnings. The Canadian Council for Non-Smoking is made up of former smokers who have given up the habit. It now sells neutral plastic boxes for cigarette packets to cover the shock images with these "condoms".
Slogans such as "Stop smoking, it will definitely prolong your life" or "Be a hero! Learn to quit!" were enough to warn the public, according to the ex-smokers.
You don't force French fries and hamburger manufacturers to show fat people in their advertising, says Frank Dwyer, president of the association. "Why does the government think it can free people from their addiction through fear? That's ridiculous."
Tom Lee, who probably sells hundreds of packs of cigarettes a day, takes a similar view: "People look the other way and continue to smoke. They are all addicted."
Will the Canadians become a global role model?
"Smokers who want to quit tell us that strong warnings with pictures and colors are needed," explains Garfield Mahood, director of the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, in an interview in the Toronto Star newspaper, "the new warning system has been very well researched and is supported by the medical community." Mahood is convinced that the Canadians will serve as a model for many similar laws around the world.
Canada has been fighting smoking for decades - with mixed success. Teenagers in Canada smoke just as often as they used to. A new study from the USA - where the images will probably become part of everyday cigarette use sooner or later - has revealed some sobering results. A study of 8,500 students in the US state of Washington came to the conclusion that a rigorous 15-year anti-smoking program was probably little more than a waste of time and money.
Costs in the amount
of 30 million dollars
The design of the new cigarette packs and their introduction cost the Canadian tobacco industry around 30 million Canadian dollars, the equivalent of just over 30 million Swiss francs.
Two billion packs of cigarettes are produced every year in Canada for the domestic market. It is doubtful whether there will be fewer because of the scare images in 2001. Imports of packs without warning pictures will be banned from the middle of the year, which should boost domestic production. Cigarette posters have practically disappeared from the streets of Canada, from Halifax to Montreal to Vancouver, because even large-scale advertising has to be garnished with black lungs and images of brain strokes.
Wine, beer, whiskey and other spirits, on the other hand, can be advertised on giant posters or with fold-out pictures in magazines without any warning to young consumers. There is joie de vivre, nature, freshness and always a crisp sense of humor; not a word about cirrhosis of the liver, not a syllable about car accidents caused by drunk drivers, not a dying word about the countless broken families that can be attributed to the abuse of alcohol.
Toxic exhaust fumes smoke out of the tailpipes of millions of cars with impunity. Cigarette smoke is different: wherever you walk through a revolving door, the sign "No smoking!" jumps out at you. If you do it anyway, you can expect fines of thousands of dollars.
"People who smoke know it's bad for them," says Mary, a sales clerk at a kiosk in Toronto, "the government wants to manipulate us and tell us what to do; we don't like it!"
A letter to the editor in the Globe and Mail asks anxiously: "What will tourists say when they see these shocking pictures? The subjects look like a threat from the Middle Ages."
Canada is serious about its detour through the Middle Ages to a cigarette-free society. From June, smokers buying packs of cigarettes will be faced with
16 different medical horror stories. There are already protests, and even convinced non-smokers do not necessarily consider the official measures to be suitable.
"The picture with the mouth cancer is the most off-putting," says Tom Lee, "the subject with the pregnant woman is less drastic." Tom Lee is a kiosk owner at a Mini Mart in Missisauga, a suburb of Toronto. For a few weeks now, he has been receiving cigarette packs with gruesome photos printed on them from suppliers. Back in 1994, all packs had to read "Cigarettes cause cancer/La cigarette cause le cancer" in large letters in two languages. This was because the message also needed to be understood in the French-speaking province of Quebec.
16 horror subjects "decorate"
the cigarette packets
Last year, the Canadian government decided that all cigarette packs sold in the country must feature deterrent images in future. There are a total of 16 images to choose from, ranging from a man coughing to blood clots in the brain to black lungs. Each is accompanied by an explanatory text. For example: "Warning: Cigarettes cause brain strokes. Smoking tobacco can clog your arteries to the brain, blocking blood flow and causing a stroke, which can lead to disability and death."
As a Christmas present to Canadian smokers, so to speak, the law came into force on
The law came into force on December 23, 2000 and has since provoked a flood of comments and letters to the editor. There is still a grace period until June 2001, when every pack of cigarettes sold in Canada must carry the ultimate warning. Imports of packs without the deterrent images will then be prohibited, which is likely to drastically reduce the supply of cigarettes in the North American country.
Futile struggle of the
Cigarette industry
The Canadian cigarette industry did everything it could to defeat the government's new escalation in the fight against smoking. They fought with the best lawyers against the impending photos and condemned the law as unconstitutional. In vain. In response, the three largest Canadian cigarette manufacturers, Imperial Tobacco, JTI-Macdonald Corp. and Rothmans, Benson and Hedges Inc. tried to get at least a delay in the deadline, arguing that they needed more time to design the layout and match the colors of the packs to the photos. These efforts were also unsuccessful, as the government in Ottawa is hell-bent on bringing the cigarette industry to its knees.
Images are still much stronger than words of warning
According to a report in the Journal of the Canadian Cancer Institute, a two-year study by the Canadian Cancer Society has shown that pictures leave a much more lasting impression than words. According to the study, 88 percent of under-18s rated photos as significantly more powerful than words. The survey also revealed that the majority of young smokers did not want anyone to see them with the deterrent illustrated packs, which increases the motivation to quit.
Marie-José Lapointe, spokesperson for the Canadian cigarette and cigar manufacturers, explains in an interview in The Globe and Mail newspaper: "Rebellion is the motive of many young smokers; warnings of this kind could therefore have the opposite effect." And the president of the association, Rob Parker, goes one better: "Some young people will say: 'Oh, great! I'll buy the whole set with all 16 subjects'."
Even the Canadian Council for Non-Smoking calls the new packs "medical pornography" and demands "more positive" forms of warnings. The Canadian Council for Non-Smoking is made up of former smokers who have given up the habit. It now sells neutral plastic boxes for cigarette packets to cover the shock images with these "condoms".
Slogans such as "Stop smoking, it will definitely prolong your life" or "Be a hero! Learn to quit!" were enough to warn the public, according to the ex-smokers.
You don't force French fries and hamburger manufacturers to show fat people in their advertising, says Frank Dwyer, president of the association. "Why does the government think it can free people from their addiction through fear? That's ridiculous."
Tom Lee, who probably sells hundreds of packs of cigarettes a day, takes a similar view: "People look the other way and continue to smoke. They are all addicted."
Will the Canadians become a global role model?
"Smokers who want to quit tell us that strong warnings with pictures and colors are needed," explains Garfield Mahood, director of the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, in an interview in the Toronto Star newspaper, "the new warning system has been very well researched and is supported by the medical community." Mahood is convinced that the Canadians will serve as a model for many similar laws around the world.
Canada has been fighting smoking for decades - with mixed success. Teenagers in Canada smoke just as often as they used to. A new study from the USA - where the images will probably become part of everyday cigarette use sooner or later - has revealed some sobering results. A study of 8,500 students in the US state of Washington came to the conclusion that a rigorous 15-year anti-smoking program was probably little more than a waste of time and money.
Costs in the amount
of 30 million dollars
The design of the new cigarette packs and their introduction cost the Canadian tobacco industry around 30 million Canadian dollars, the equivalent of just over 30 million Swiss francs.
Two billion packs of cigarettes are produced every year in Canada for the domestic market. It is doubtful whether there will be fewer because of the scare images in 2001. Imports of packs without warning pictures will be banned from the middle of the year, which should boost domestic production. Cigarette posters have practically disappeared from the streets of Canada, from Halifax to Montreal to Vancouver, because even large-scale advertising has to be garnished with black lungs and images of brain strokes.
Wine, beer, whiskey and other spirits, on the other hand, can be advertised on giant posters or with fold-out pictures in magazines without any warning to young consumers. There is joie de vivre, nature, freshness and always a crisp sense of humor; not a word about cirrhosis of the liver, not a syllable about car accidents caused by drunk drivers, not a dying word about the countless broken families that can be attributed to the abuse of alcohol.
Toxic exhaust fumes smoke out of the tailpipes of millions of cars with impunity. Cigarette smoke is different: wherever you walk through a revolving door, the sign "No smoking!" jumps out at you. If you do it anyway, you can expect fines of thousands of dollars.
"People who smoke know it's bad for them," says Mary, a sales clerk at a kiosk in Toronto, "the government wants to manipulate us and tell us what to do; we don't like it!"
A letter to the editor in the Globe and Mail asks anxiously: "What will tourists say when they see these shocking pictures? The subjects look like a threat from the Middle Ages."
