If a cigarette box isn't disgusting, it's not doing its job
In Bangladesh, cigarette packs show a photograph of an ulcer on a throat or someone on a ventilator. Mexico's show bloody urine in a toilet or a woman with breast cancer. In South Africa, a small black box reads: 'Warning: Smoking kills'.
When warning signs are big, graphic and swopped out regularly, they stop people from smoking, according to the World Health Organisation's (WHO) latest
Yet, despite the WHO finding South Africa — along with Lesotho — has the highest proportion of adults who smoke daily in Africa,
Local cigarette packs have eight different warning texts such as 'Danger: Smoking causes cancer' and 'Warning: Don't smoke around children', but none show images. There are also
'We don't have graphic warnings [which is a problem because] many people can't read the text that's only in English, and we don't enforce laws around advertisement, particularly for e-cigarettes.'
That will change if parliament passes the
'Weak' text only warnings
The WHO recommends cigarette pack warnings as
Picture warnings showing the harms of smoking, like blackened lungs or children in hospital beds, are
According to the WHO report, about 110 countries use cigarette graphic warnings, but 40 — including South Africa — still have 'weak' text-only labels or none at all.
Canada was the
'The colour of the pack makes a difference'
Under South Africa's proposed anti-smoking legislation, all cigarette packs sold in the country will carry plain packaging and graphic warnings.
Tobacco products will be wrapped in a uniform plain colour chosen by the health minister and must have warnings that cover at least 65% of the front and back. Cigarette packs must show messages about the harms of smoking or benefits of quitting, information on what the product contains and emits, and include pictures or graphics that show the health risks.
'Our
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'The colour of the pack makes a difference,' says Ayo-Yusuf. 'South Africans look at their pack in making a brand choice, and that choice is linked to what we call the expected sensory experience [how satisfying smoking is], which leads to smoking more cigarettes a day,'
The rules on packaging and warnings won't stop at cigarettes. They will also apply to nicotine products like e-cigarettes (or vapes) — devices that heat a liquid containing flavourings such as gummy bear or cherry peach lemon in colourful packaging
Plain packaging makes e-cigarettes less appealing to young people. In a 2023
Nevertheless, plain packaging has become one of the main targets of the tobacco industry's pushback against the Bill.
Big Tobacco strikes back
The Tobacco Bill has been in the making since
Because South Africa's rules on advertising tobacco are strict, Big Tobacco relies on packaging as a
When cigarettes are produced illegally with fake trademarks or sold to customers before taxes are paid on the goods, it is seen as illicit trade. While companies have long
'Currently, they're already producing these cigarettes and
The industry also
For example, current rules list eight warning texts that must alternate on cigarette packs, while smokeless tobacco products only carry one about oral cancer. 'They are jumping ahead by claiming you can't regulate vapes the same way as cigarettes. The regulation could say that cigarette packs must have a graphic of a sick baby, while vapes show an image of someone chained to addiction.'
In a parliamentary hearing last month,
Once the hearings end, it will be up to the National Assembly to pass, amend or reject the Bill before it finally goes to the National Council of Provinces and then the president to be signed into law.
And if it is signed, not only cigarette packs — but the tobacco industry in South Africa — could look very different.
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