Parliament will be voting on whether to introduce plain packaging of cigarettes in England and Wales in the next few weeks.
The aim is to deter children from starting smoking. Lifelong addicts won’t care what the packet looks like but experts say the legislation could save thousands of lives.
When I was a teenager, I was tempted to smoke because it was a grown-up thing to do. Smoking was glamorous. Brits were used to Craven A, Senior Service, Woodbines, Park Drive and Players but were soon under threat from American brands that were better packaged and often came king-sized. You were a Bobby Dazzler if you could get your hands on a pack of Pall Mall or Philip Morris.
Suggestions in the 1950s that smoking caused cancer prompted companies to introduce filter cigarettes, as if they were more healthy, and describe their product as mild or calming.
The Royal College of Physicians called for advertising to be banned in1962 because of health reasons and, two years later, a major US report stated categorically there was a 70% increase in the mortality rate of smokers over non-smokers.
Even then, people continued to enjoy the habit they had grown up with, responding to adverts that said “You’re never alone with a Strand” and “Pure gold from Benson and Hedges”. Consulate were “cool as a mountain stream”,Virginia Slims were for ladies and: “When the kids are getting out of hand, And driving you insane — Relax! Relax! Relax! Relax! Let Capstan take the strain!” In the Swinging Sixties I carried a pack of Disque Bleu just to be cool but I never inhaled.
The advertising worked, but at a cost. Five of the men who portrayed the iconic Marlboro Man died of smoking related disease.
There’s little doubt that packaging – and the image the adverts promoted – sold cigarettes. If the parliamentary vote goes as expected, plainpackaging will be introduced in May next year. A little touch of glamour will be snuffed out, but it will be a step towards stopping children being snared in a killer addiction.
