Words: 1919
Marketing has now come a science as advertisers are conducting research on their demographics to know what would entice those individuals to buy their products . This has become an implicit science; the population may not recognize how much marketing impacts their consumption behaviors . Prone (1993) described how packaging redesign alone for US brand Rice-A- Iron increased sales by 20% within one year, and argues that packaging design can yield a higher return on investment than any other forms of marketing mix strategies.
Increased marketing restrictions on tobacco products have resulted in the cigarette package being the last and only means of advertising . The goals of advertising via cigarette packages are twofold, point of purchase advertising and communicating a brand image. The implementation of the tobacco retailer display ban in Canada has restricted point-of purchase display of tobacco products. The Tobacco Industry’s internal documentation found concrete proof of research into the characteristics of the pack that would entice certain individuals to purchase their brand over another .
Evidence has been found that the packaging itself has been created to communicate characteristics of the cigarettes to their audience . Smokers keep their packs close to them and reveal them countless times daily. Such behaviors expose other consumers to “incidental consumer brand encounters. ” These encounters have a powerful influence on brand choice even when the consumer is unaware of the exposure . Tobacco products have been referred to as a “badge” product, which, through regular public display, tells others something about the smoker.
Limiting marketing abilities through plain packaging has been shown to reduce brand appeal and reduce misconceptions about smoking harms. Plain packaging also reduces the ability of the individual to influence others and limits its capacity to serve as a “silent salesman” . Strategies are clearly needed to address the smoking epidemic. Proponents of the plain packaging movement believe that taking the glitz and glam away from the packages will result in reduced uptake by youth . However, another key reason for reduction of smoking monogamous is increased taxation and its effect on pricing.
The Tobacco Industry warns that plain packaging will increase the use Of contraband, which may result in increased youth uptake of tobacco products. We will begin our policy analysis by investigating the complex nature of the relationship between the Tobacco Industry and government, and the actors that influence tobacco restriction policies. We will look at how the Ideas, Interests and Institutions could have a role in whether a novel policy such as plain packaging could get on the policy agenda in Canada.
Ideas The health effects of tobacco are an area with a multitude of research; however, the research on plain packaging is currently being undertaken by a handful of authors. Much of the research utilizes approaches that may or may not mimic real world behavior. Plain packaging is novel and comparisons of a person’s perception to their use of tobacco with or without plain packaging will not be fully known until it is tested in real life situations . Research has shown that youth are influenced by the branding and packaging of tobacco products.
Tobacco companies maintain that the current role of packaging is to “encourage brand switching and sustain brand loyalty among adult smokers” Nevertheless, studies have shown that the appearance of the pack appeals to youth and influences young people’s choice of cigarettes (Moodier, Ford, Mackintosh, & Hastings, 201 2; Wakefield M. Et al. , 2012). The Tobacco Industry has denied targeting children however, Tobacco Industry documents have suggested that youth have been an indispensable marketing segment and take priority over other segments.
The Tobacco Industry has a constant need for new “starters” as their product results in a high mortality rate . Research has demonstrated that significant brand loyalty exists among smokers; it is imperative for the tobacco companies to utilize marketing to introduce new smokers to their brand in order to have sustainable growth . The Tobacco Industry has created “front groups” such as the Centre for Indoor Air Research to distance them from the research they were funding, attempting to provide increased credibility to the research.
The purpose of many of the studies that have been funded by the Tobacco Industry is to either cast doubt or undermine the risks associated to the effects Of smoking and second-hand smoke. As stated by Hill (2003) “conflicting evidence and evidence of unanticipated iatrogenic lead to problems of trust”. This may be exactly the intention of the Tobacco Industry in many of the research papers they support. Monster and Kebab (2003) published a research paper suggesting the link between second-hand smoke and mortality was at the very least overstated.
The purpose of funding this research was likely to undermine efforts toward clean-air space policies. The Tobacco Industry used this research repeatedly to refute claims that second-hand smoke was at all dangerous to our health. Interests The two most influential groups, which have a vested interest in tobacco control policy development, include the Tobacco Industry and the government. The government may be perceived to be in a position of conflict Of interest because Of the taxation on tobacco products.
Yet, the costs to the health care system due to tobacco products far outweigh the benefit of tax collection . In 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada found “the government could not be held responsible for policy decisions, citing a 1989 ruling on government liability’ . The decision to provide “the federal government with immunity in matters of policy/’ may help provinces who are in the process of pursuing litigation to recover health care costs from the Tobacco Industry .
Although the WHO Framework recommends governments should not invest in the Tobacco Industry it cannot be ruled out that government holds such investments which may put them in a position of conflict of interest . Institutions Tobacco policies may seem simple and straightforward to implement; however, they may have untimely consequences when going against billion dollar industries which have the funds to stay two steps ahead of their adversaries. Countries and provinces need to invest the necessary resources in order to compete appropriately against the tobacco companies.
For the government to move funding towards prevention in health care, evidence based practices need to be utilized; however, prevention is known to take mime with little immediate results . One of the arguments that the Tobacco Industry utilizes is that plain packaging would be infringing on trademark agreements. Trademark laws are in place to protect private property rights and to “support the broader public interest in providing accurate information to consumers”, which is why accurate labeling and warnings are necessary .
With this in mind, “plain packaging of tobacco seems an eminently reasonable and justifiable measure, entirely consistent with the goal of promoting consumer welfare. ” In order to investigate further into plain packaging, we ill be incorporating Kingdom’s model to analyses how the problem, policy, and political stream would have an impact in bringing plain packaging to the agenda in Canada (Kingdom, 2003). Problem stream/ definition: The problem has been identified as the high cost of health care due to tobacco consumption. Tobacco products are responsible for 230,000 deaths each year in Canada .
It IS reported that approximately 4,910,520 Canadians smoke cigarettes (1 7% of the population), even though this behavior will result in death or disability for half of all regular users . Another problem is he contraband market which funds organized crime. The sale of contraband is undermining the government control over the product (age of purchasers, health warnings etc. ) and the essence of the policies in place. Policies which move towards increased prohibition of tobacco may initially seem logical; however, secondary consequences may arise which increase the underground market.
Policy stream Prior to problems reaching decision makers to be placed on the agenda, the policy stream depends on researchers to identify the pertinent evidence and on analysts to offer suitable solutions that will affect change. Tobacco policy change is influenced by a web Of connected Systems including, but not limited to, the consumers, Interest groups, the government, policy makers, the producers, and second-hand consumers. Each of these is connected financially making it difficult to change just one aspect of tobacco production without having an effect on another.
These power relationships affect the likelihood of the adoption of a new policy on tobacco. Each policy that is considered is affected by the research findings, political ideologies, media and advocacy groups, and the personal experiences of the policy makers. One ought to believe the evidence of harms due to tobacco use would makes it easy to bring practical arguments that could be convincing to the public to push the policy forward; however, that is not always the case. Policies with diffuse costs and concentrated benefits are easier to pass .
Tobacco prevention policies tend to be the opposite, and there are strong forces on both sides of any argument over introduction to new policies. For example, in the case of smoke free outdoor spaces, everyone benefits from being able to eat (and work) in restaurants and bars without being exposed to the harms, hill a smaller population is inconvenienced by having to smoke elsewhere. Despite this, there are numerous policies in the implementation phase which further limit the consumption and promotion of tobacco.
This has created a level of public acceptance for new tobacco prevention policies as they are slowly brought forward. Currently there are policies in many countries that limit the sales, promotion and advertising of cigarettes; however, smoking rates remain high. The public acceptance towards smoking and advertising bans may help to affect political will and create a window of opportunity to ass a new policy such as plain packaging, which has yielded promising results . Political Stream Although evidence exists on the risks of smoking to our health, there is considerable delay in moving towards a smoke-free world.
The implementation of policies to prevent the uptake and availability of tobacco products demonstrates a positive alignment between the political and institutional context and the research findings. However, unintentional consequences to the introduction of tobacco control policies have surfaced within Canada as the introduction of counterfeit and contraband cigarettes as increased availability for consumers at a lower price. Careful consideration of the consequences of novel policies will need to be analyzed prior to their implementation (Imperial Tobacco Australia Limited, 2010).
Research has found that plain packaging could be a successful venture to deter smoking behavior; however this initiative has note been put into practice in real world conditions In December 2012, Australia will be the first country to implement plain packaging. It remains to be seen what the results of a nationwide strategy such as this will be on smoking rates. If this policy Leeds positive results in the evaluation phase of its implementation in Australia, the political appetite for other countries to follow suit may be realized.
Forecasting/Discussion Merging the three policy streams will hopefully create a window of opportunity to push plain packaging into the implementation phase in Canada. The evidence will be available as the implementation in Australia is evaluated. In order to measure the effectiveness of this policy, there are several possible indicators that need to be considered for evaluation. Smoking consumption and smoking initiation rates would form a strong assure of the success of such a policy.