The push to make cigarettes present in an unflattering pack is supposed to make them less attractive to children. It seems doubtful that first time smokers are drawn to nicotine because of the colour and design of the box they are in.
How do kids come to get hooked on nicotine ? The biggest draw seems to be peer pressure. The leader of the pack smokes cigarettes - therefore it is " cool " for others to follow - and the usual pathway to a taste for tobacco comes from a smoke shared with others.
So the government is in a fight with big tobacco and this could degenerate into a price war. Big tobacco claims that they may have to lower their prices to fight a market intrusion by imports of illegal " chop chop " from Asia. They are prepared to reduce their profits to retain market share.
At the end of the day this fight could do little to reduce tobacco use because it is really an attack on a legal product. It is a product that injures health, but so far the government has shied away from any suggestion of declaring it illegal to grow, harvest or manufacture and sell in any form.
Unfortunately that is not even an option. Making tobacco illegal would certainly cause a drop in smoking rates, but it would also usher in a huge illegal industry. In fact, tobacco use could even increase because there is a certain attraction in thumbing one's nose at the law - as evidenced by the ready availability of marijuana in our society.
Whether the government wins or loses this packaging battle, it seems certain that one way or another tobacco is not going to disappear as a product anytime soon !
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