By David
Edwards
(who is quitting
cigarettes after seeing the new warnings)
GIVING up smoking is like saying goodbye to
your best friend - in my case two best friends, Mr Benson and Mr
Hedges.
It's a friendship that has cost me a fortune,
affected my health and given me an excellent chance of dying
early. Together we've beaten nicotine gum. patches and
hypnotherapy, but my latest attempt to quit my 20-a-day habit
began in the unlikely surroundings of a London newsagent.
I was queuing for a packet of 20, minding my
own business, when I saw the words
screaming at me from behind the counter. "Smoking clogs the
arteries and causes heart attacks and strokes! Smoking causes
fatal lung cancer! Smoking causes ageing of the skin! Smoking
can cause a slow and painful death!"
Instead of being discreetly tucked at the
bottom of the packet, the latest health warnings cover half the
box. And these aren't just anybody's arteries, heart, skin or
lungs... the warnings seem to be aimed at me in particular.
Psychologist Martin LloydElliott, an expert in
advertising, says: "These new health warnings are incredibly
powerful. "They are much more personalised and seem to be
speaking directly to the smoker. By saying smoking can cause
impotence or harm your unborn child, they create a picture in
people's minds which is very hard to shake."
The new warnings, which are being phased in
between now and September 30, cover 40 per cent of the front of
the packet and 50 per cent of the back. They replace the much
smaller one-line warning which will gradually disappear from
packets altogether. And if the 12 new warnings cause bad dreams
for me and Britain's other 10million smokers, 2004 will be a
nightmare.
From next year, horrific images of the effects
of smoking will feature on cigarette packets after a similar
scheme in Canada led to a big drop in the number of smokers
there. The images on Canadian cigarette packs range from a
photograph of blackened guns to a picture of the blood-soaked
brain of someone who died from a stroke caused by smoking.
A spokeswoman for Health Canada said: "We
believe there is strong support and approval for the images
which are, after a year, still noticed and read. Not only are
fewer Canadians smoking, but they are also smoking less."
Although the particular pictures have yet to
be selected for British cigarette packets, the images are likely
to be similar after a ruling by the European Court of Justice in
December. The judges threw out a lastditch bid by British
American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco to scrap the changes.
Aside from the larger health warnings and
images, the ruling means cigarettes which use terms such as
'light' will be banned as of January, effectively blocking the
sale of Marlboro Lights unless they are renamed.
But a spokesman for imperial Tobacco which
makes Lambert & Butler. said its research showed smokers
disliked the new adverts. He added: "Our customers see the new
warnings as unnecessary."
Simon Clark, director of the smokers-rights group Forest,
says Canadian smokers avoid looking at the images. He says:
"People tell the newsagent they don't want the packet with the
diseased lungs on them and instead will only buy the ones with
less extreme images.
The new warnings will make an impact to begin with but will
quickly become part of the furniture." I beg to differ. I
haven't touched a cigarette since last Monday and this time I'm
more certain than ever I can finally beat the weed.
Health
Benefits:
