A campaign to expose misleading descriptions and marketing of cigarettes was launched this week by Cancer Research UK. So called “light” or “mild” cigarettes are no less dangerous than regular cigarettes, the charity says.
Figure 1.
“Low tar” tobacco is marketed in light packaging to get round regulations forbidding terms such as “light” or “mild”
Although manufacturers will no longer be able to use terms such as light or mild from the end of this month—as the regulations of the European Union's Directive on Tobacco Product Regulation come into effect—the companies have started to use certain marketing ploys to get round the regulations.
They will continue to market “low tar” cigarettes through design changes, so that what used to be known as light brands, such as Drum light (pictured below), are now packaged in light colours, to distinguish them from the regular versions. The companies are also using names such as “white” and “silver.”
The £15m ($25m; €22m) campaign, “Death Repackaged,” is being funded by the Department of Health and will be spread across TV, radio, newspapers, and billboards. The advertisements will feature deadly animals (a great white shark, a crocodile, and a rattlesnake) with friendly names, such as Susie and Rosie, and will convey the message that giving something a nice name does not make it any less dangerous.