UK
One year from the controversial introduction of plain packaging in the UK, new research commissioned by JTI and conducted by independent polling company Kantar TNS reveals that the majority of the public are not supportive of the policy.
In the largest public opinion poll of its kind since plain packaging was introduced, research found that UK citizens are concerned their government has imported a failed policy from Australia without fully evaluating the potential negative consequences.
Almost two-thirds believe that plain packaging will not achieve its primary objective of reducing smoking rates (65%) and is a poor use of government resources (65%).
Three out of every five adults (58%) believe plain packaging will lead to an increase in the number of illegal cigarettes sold domestically.
If the UK government had yet to decide on plain packaging and was considering whether to introduce it today, 69% of adults believe they should either reject the policy (35%) or wait for more evidence of its effectiveness from Australia (34%).
A total 72% of respondents believe the government would either a) fix a policy review or ignore evidence that went against a preferred policy (29%), or b) be reluctant to change their preferred policy if the evidence was weighted against it (43%).
“Plain packaging is failing in the UK, as it has in Australia and France, and as we always warned that it would,” stated Jonathan Duce, head of external communications at JTI’s global headquarters in Geneva. “Rather than wait for results to emerge from Australia - as originally committed to by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt - the government pushed through a policy without waiting for hard evidence or research into the consequences. Plain packaging should never have been introduced in the UK, and other governments considering the measure should think twice before importing this failed experiment.”