case study:

Non-smoking becomes top priority in Australia and worldwide

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Although smoking was the norm and part of everyday life decades ago, it's very act is now often

seen as abusive to one's physical health and harmful to others. Therefore, governments across the

world have made it a primary mission to reduce smoking. Indeed, this priority is a consistent one

across both the Western world such as Australia, Canada, the United States and the United

Kingdom, as well as developing countries such as China.

Most countries follow similar practices with the goal of reducing the number of people who smoke.

In Australia, one of the primary means of doing so is the use of coloured, vivid and graphic photos

of the physical dangers of smoking, such as a picture of a young man in his 30s who died from

smoking or the impact of smoking on one's lungs, on cigarette packaging, along with a clearlylabelled text warning regarding smoking.

These changes to the packaging of cigarettes and related tobacco products were thought of because

package design is a powerful way for tobacco companies to appeal to young people and minimise

the perceptions of harm caused by their products. The goal of these new packaging laws is the very

opposite - to minimise their appeal and, at the same time, increase the perceived harm.

In 2012, Australia went one step further in their aim to reduce the appeal of cigarettes among

young people by enforcing 'plain packaging'. That is, cigarette packages include graphic warnings,

both text and visual, as before, but as well, the brand logo is simply replaced by text. For example,

instead of the 'Winfield' brand logo, this was replaced by 'Winfield' in plain text. The aim is to get

rid of seductive and exciting packaging that is specifically designed to appeal to young people and

make the idea of starting to smoke less attractive. In essence, what used to be branded has now

become 'unbranded'.

Yet, evidence suggests this plain packaging strategy may not be working. Data obtained by The

Australian showed a 0.3 per cent increase in tobacco sales volumes - that is nearly 59 million

'sticks'. Moreover, since the introduction of plain packaging laws, statistics have shown that

demand for cheaper, low-cost cigarettes have increased by more than 50 per cent.

E-cigarettes are devices that deliver an aerosol by heating a solution that users breath in. The

aerosol is commonly referred to as 'vapour'. Using an e-cigarette is commonly referred to as

'vaping'. E-cigarettes are battery-operated and may look like cigarettes, cigars, pipes, pens or

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memory sticks. Hazardous substances have been found in e-cigarette liquids and in the aerosol

produced by e-cigarettes, including formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein, which are known to

cause cancer. Some chemicals in e-cigarette aerosols can also cause DNA damage. E-cigarettes do

not produce the tar produced by conventional cigarettes which is the main cause of lung cancer.

However, many scientists are concerned that using e-cigarettes could increase risk of lung disease,

heart disease and cancer.

Currently, there is insufficient evidence to promote the use of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation.

In Australia, you can't sell products that claim to help people quit smoking unless the Therapeutic

Goods Administration (TGA) has approved them for this purpose. The TGA has not approved

any e-cigarettes for sale to help people quit smoking. Any person or company with an Australian

sponsor may apply to the TGA to market an e-cigarette as a therapeutic good in Australia.

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnHpG7RtXNc

Question

Gather several anti-smoking advertisements (printed or video). Apply the most relevant

attitude change theory to justify how these graphic warnings may influence the consumers

to avoid smoking?