Following the Scottish Government’s recent announcement that it would likely support the introduction of plain, or standardised, tobacco packaging, leading manufacturer JTI has launched a press advertising campaign highlighting the lack of evidence to support claims a ban would reduce smoking levels.
Email correspondence obtained using a Freedom of Information request shows that in 2011 even the Department of Health accepted that these proposals are not supported by any hard evidence.
The JTI campaign, which launches today and is the third phase of its advertising campaign in major national newspaper and magazine titles, shows the results of the Freedom of Information request to inform the Scottish public of the facts in this debate.
Jorge da Motta, Managing Director of JTI UK said: We are using this media campaign to demonstrate that in 2011 even the Department of Health accepted that these proposals are not supported by any hard evidence.We hope common sense will prevail and that the Scottish Government will disregard this proposal, before embarking on a process which will do nothing more than deprive the Treasury of much needed revenue and make hundreds of millions of pounds for the criminals who manufacture, distribute and sell illegal tobacco products.
“We have always argued that plain packaging will not prevent children from smoking, but enforcing existing initiatives such as ‘No ID, No Sale’, application of the law that punishes those who buy tobacco on the behalf of children and cutting the illegal supply chain, can work.”
