Geneva, May 17, 2018 – One year on from the controversial introduction of plain packaging for tobacco in the UK, new research commissioned by JTI and conducted by independent polling company Kantar TNS, reveals that the majority of the UK 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 Australia1 without fully evaluating the potential negative consequences2 :
Almost two-thirds of the UK population 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 UK adults (58%) believe plain packaging will lead to an increase in the number of illegal cigarettes sold in the UK.
If the UK Government had yet to decide on plain packaging and was considering whether to introduce it today, 69% of UK adults believe they should either reject the policy (35%) or wait for more evidence of its effectiveness from Australia (34%).
72% of respondents believe the government would either a) fix a policy review / 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%). […]
1 In Australia, which pioneered plain packaging in December 2012, latest Government data shows that the long-term decline in smoking rates has now stalled:
2 After Australia implemented plain packaging, illegal tobacco sales went up by 30%. The overall illegal market is now at 15% – the country’s highest level on record: See “Illicit Tobacco in Australia: 2017 Full Year Report”, KPMG, April 2018: .
The scale of illegal tobacco in Australia – and related criminal activity – has forced the government to set up a multi-agency ‘Tobacco TaskForce’: