Creepy Smoking Labels Coming to US

Rebecca - posted on 12/26/2010

Vicki, I think it has to do with how you grew up. I grew up in the states and then moved to Canada. When I came to Canada, the difference just stuck with me...that sickly sweet Du Maurier cloud. I guess i just sort of smell Marlboros and think of my childhood...as gross as that is. They all reek.

Kathy - posted on 12/26/2010

They are.

Stifler's - posted on 12/26/2010

I think they are on all packages in Australia

Kathy - posted on 12/26/2010

Put the creepy pictures an ALL packages!

Natasha - posted on 12/26/2010

I work in a smoke shop, and know that there are lots of people who do not like the pictures. Especially the more graphic ones of lungs, mouths and gums. I don't think that it deters people from buying the cigarettes, they just ask for a different package.

Kathy - posted on 12/25/2010

I'd like to see a label that reads "Smoking makes you stink!"

Erin - posted on 12/25/2010

I think if they want to put gross pictures on the labels they shouldn't put cartoons, make it all as REAL as possible! The balding lady w/cancer grossed me out the most! I think they should put pictures of black placentas on the pack to deter pregnant women! That's what got me to quit smoking when I was pregnant!!! It would be especially nice if the cigarette companies thought it cost too much and raised the prices yet again ;) The cheapest pack of cigarettes I sell (WA) is $6.05 after sales tax, most expensive $10.27 after sales tax. A lot of ppl quit, started buying in OR (I live in a border city), buy from the reservation, or went to rolling their own! Oh they also make filtered cigars, alot of older folks started buying those because you can still find packs for $2.15... They have raised the taxes pretty high in WA so now you can't buy rollies for

JuLeah - posted on 12/25/2010

Research actually suggests the labels draw people and increase the rate of smoking

Jodi - posted on 12/25/2010

@Layce
Seriously $3.39? I don't think I even paid that for a pack back in the 80's..... Your government needs to tax the shit out of you :P There is no deterrant in $3.39 a pack.

Kathy - posted on 12/25/2010

I'm for ANYTHING that might deter people from smoking! I'm not a smoker, but I know some people who found the pictures a deterrent. Some people find the price pretty hard to take! - in Australia they've recently put a huge tax on cigarettes. Don't know what it is, but the price has gone up enormously.
I think the argument about the black market is a cop out. There'll always be a black market in all sorts of stuff.

Vicki - posted on 12/24/2010

rebecca that's funny. I (cdn) find the smell of amer cigs gross. like any smell good but you know what I mean. thought british smokes smelled closer to cdn. was happy when living in italy that the EU smokes were more similar to cdn and not amer (unless specifically buying marlboros or whatever).

Lacye - posted on 12/24/2010

No, they don't work. If people want to smoke, they are going to.

As for you guys talking about the prices, WOW! Mine only cost $3.39 a pack. The higher packs cost about $5.

Rebecca - posted on 12/24/2010

I always find Canadian cigs smell a bit sickly sweet. You can smell the difference between a room filled with American cigs, Brit cigs and Canadian cigs.

Chatty - posted on 12/24/2010

P.S. American cigarettes are fuckin' disgusting! BLECH!

Chatty - posted on 12/24/2010

The pictures didn't deter me when I smoked but I'm failing to see how it's a waste of money? They have to package the cigarettes somehow.......why not print a picture if there's a chance that it might make people think twice?

Vicki - posted on 12/24/2010

omg marina...make a buck by selling your body, not smokes. just leave the kid at home and not attached to breast. might turn potential clints off :)

Joy - posted on 12/24/2010

Cigarettes in NY state are $7.50 a pack for the cheap ones. Marlboros are $10 a pack. THAT's what's made me cut way back. As someone who has smoked for 22 years (unfortunately), I really don't think a picture on a pack of smokes would make me stop. Like I said, price hikes have come closer to getting me to stop than anything else. My goal is to be smoke free by my birthday in July. But since I've tried just about every method they sell or can prescribe, I'm just counting on weening and willpower. So far, so good. It's just a slow process.

Jenn - posted on 12/24/2010

You did make me laugh Kate - but in all seriousness the black market is huge. Most of it is through the reserves. http://www.canadianbusiness.com/after_ho...
Near where I live in Six Nations reserve and one of the richest men out there is one of these cigarette kings: Ken Hill - of course when he went to court he was found not guilty *rolls eyes*.

C. - posted on 12/23/2010

I honestly don't know if it will work for most people. Some, yes, b/c some people just can't get that out of their heads and don't want it to happen to them. Others may not care b/c they will do what they want, when they want. I doubt it will work 100%.

Kate CP - posted on 12/23/2010

This would be the black market mentioned earlier. :P

Sherri - posted on 12/23/2010

Wow Marina that is nuts!! I was going to even mention meeting half way but I just saw where you are from and that is a good 2 hrs plus away and that is on a good day. I quickly just changed my mind. Mail sounds great LOL!!

~♥Little Miss - posted on 12/23/2010

Hey Sherri, I might have you mail them to me. I in Ma. With tax about 8 bucks or more!

Sherri - posted on 12/23/2010

Yes I believe it is already factored into what the store purchases them for. Then the store sets the price to sell them at. I know at Mobil I pay $5 a pack, If I go to Rite Aid it is $6.28 a pack. But as I said NH has extremely low rates anyways. I know all surrounding people if they live on the border of NH come up here to purchase cigarettes because they are so much cheaper.

Kate CP - posted on 12/23/2010

Isn't it illegal to sell cigarettes without the tax?

Vicki - posted on 12/23/2010

wow. selling cig at cost almost seems unethical from my canadian viewpoint. yes, am a smoker. yes, wish I wasn't. yes, a plan for the future. that said...the pics get ignored. they might get me thinking about it while having a smoke for about two seconds but they haven't worked for me or anyone I know. what has worked was trying to get pregnant. then typical no excuse stress kicked in again and boom...back to staring at gross pics and thinking about it for two seconds. as for the tax on our cigarettes in canada if it makes some quit, great. just feel badly for low income people that you KNOW are not giving it up. sucks up so much of their money. yeah, I'm a sittin' on the fence kinda girl here. so guess time to shutup. oh except for agreeing that a multitude of factors go into quitting and this could play a role in it if someone is going to do it. and it being aimed at getting people to not start. and blah blah blah...as for smoking americans, don't worry. if you want you'll keep puffing. you get jaded from the pics after a bit.

Sherri - posted on 12/23/2010

@ Kate I don't smoke cheap cigarettes just don't smoke much I smoke Marlboro menthols. I only smoke 2 packs a wk. Also NH doesn't really have a huge tax on cigarettes and the Mobil across the street from my house sells them at cost. So they are only $5 a pk.

Jenn - posted on 12/23/2010

I don't think hiking up the taxes is really the way to go as that only feeds the black market even more. I don't know if you are aware of the HUGE black market on cigarettes, but it exists and is a major problem. Anyway, I don't know anyone that is bothered by the pics on the packs (of my friends who smoke), they mostly just think it's comical. My BF is going to quit smoking for financial reasons - and he does smoke the cheap ones from the reserve. My Mum's husband smokes the name brand ones and they cost like $10-$11 a pack!!

Becky - posted on 12/23/2010

We have them already here in the UK they really concern me, so much so that i often need a fag to get over the stress of worrying about my lungs, teeth, skin,etc.....
The price on the other hand is a great deterrent, or maybe we should all have to grow are own!

Becky - posted on 12/22/2010

Well, I'm a non-smoker anyway, but the kid ones would get to me. I'm not sure any of the other ones would though. I think they probably can encourage some people to quit or to not start, but different things work for different people.
As an aside, the one with the dying woman (the bald, emaciated woman) is Barb Tarbox (yes, that really is her name). She was an Alberta woman who got cancer from smoking most of her life and became a huge anti-smoking advocate. Interestingly, the US is putting her picture on cigarette boxes but Alberta will not, at least at this point.

Rebecca - posted on 12/22/2010

No Kate, my friends and I used to laugh our asses off at the pics. I do a bit of print ad work now and then...I actually thought how hilarious it would be if my pic was on the cig pack smoking with a pregger tummy. You'd get a bunch of smokers look at you all the time like, "Hey, don't I know you?."

Stifler's - posted on 12/22/2010

I daresay smokes are cheaper in the USA Sherri, and for pack a day smokers it's like $50 a week and stuff.

Kate CP - posted on 12/22/2010

Sherri: I really don't mean for this to sound rude but...you smoke some cheap-ass cigarettes, girl!

Kate CP - posted on 12/22/2010

I don't think it'll stop any one from smoking at all. But it did give me a chuckle...is that bad? :P

Jodi - posted on 12/22/2010

I bet if they added a 100% tax on it you'd give up ;P.

Personally, I think the price increases/taxes here worked better than the graphics. I agree with the other Aussie girls on that one.

And really, if smokers feel attacked by that, too bad. They also clog up the health system at the other end, so it will all even out for them :P

Sherri - posted on 12/22/2010

I spend an average of $520 a yr on cigarettes. $10 a week.

Stifler's - posted on 12/22/2010

It was expensive in the first place anyway. If you add it up over a year it's usually in the thousands.

Rebecca - posted on 12/22/2010

I think raising the taxes is the better move. Still, I know many smokers feel attacked by these tactics.

Dana - posted on 12/22/2010

Yes, the heavier taxes are great but, in conjunction with the creepy labels it's even better.

Amie - posted on 12/22/2010

I doubt it. Heavy taxes have deterred more people from smoking than the pictures have - That I know anyway.

Julianne - posted on 12/22/2010

5$ a pack?? wow. Its like 17$ here for certain brands, the cheapest is like maybe 12 or 11?

Charlie - posted on 12/22/2010

I think the cheapest is $11 , I know a lot of my friends gave up because they could no longer afford it .

Sherri - posted on 12/22/2010

Nope won't deter anyone I know. They will just hide the pack. WOW Loureen that is expensive they are only $5 a pack here.

Charlie - posted on 12/22/2010

Most of my friends didn't care about the pictures most of them only quit when the prices went up to 15 a pack .

Stifler's - posted on 12/22/2010

I don't smoke because I used to work in a nursing home and worked with people dying of lung cancer every day because they smoked their entire life, I don't need a warning label to tell me anything. I don't think it's deterred anyone I know from smoking. If anyone I know has quit it's because they realised that they were wasting heaps of money on smoking a year.

Dana - posted on 12/22/2010

Eh, I think it works, it's been proven to work and it's aimed at those that don't smoke or those who want to quit. Obviously it's not going to deter people who enjoy smoking too much to care.

Julianne - posted on 12/22/2010

I was heavly addicted i started when i was like 9 and quit just recently, Sometime it was a pack a day, others half a pack. There were a lot of other factors into me quitting smoking, but the labels did help.

Krista - posted on 12/22/2010

I don't think it really does much of anything. People who are already smokers aren't going to stop because of a picture of some rotten teeth. And people who start, don't start out by buying a pack of smokes. They bum a drag from a friend. Then they bum a smoke from another friend. Then they might buy a few smokes out of another friend's package. I don't doubt for a second that there are people who have gotten thoroughly hooked on cigarettes long before ever really taking a good look at an actual package of smokes.

Jessica - posted on 12/22/2010

I don't smoke but practically everyone else I am friends with or related to does and the nasty packages are a waste of money and haven't been a deterrent at all. (I'm in Canada)

~♥Little Miss - posted on 12/22/2010

For some it may work. Not for me, but I am looking foward to gaining my 6th finger on my left hand back.

Julianne - posted on 12/22/2010

YES!! i quit smoking because of the disgusting packs. I didn't like seeing chopped up black lungs, holy hearts and bleeding brains on my packs. Then it got me thinking, thats what its doing to me!