Charity reveals tobacco brand impact on children

Cancer Research UK has released a short film to illustrate the powerful response tobacco packaging elicits from children.

It’s part of their nationwide ‘The Answer is Plain’ campaign, calling for all branding to be removed from tobacco packaging.

The minute-long video shows children aged six to 11 innocently discussing what attracts them to brightly coloured and slickly designed cigarette packs.

The children's reactions to the packs include: ‘That one’s cool’; ‘It has a funky design’; ‘It looks girly… I like it’; ‘Pink, pink, pink!’ ‘I think it would be quite fun to play with’ and ‘It makes you happy looking at it’.

It's thought that around 14,000 children aged 11 to 15 in Wales smoke every day, and more than eight in ten smokers start by the age of 19.

And new data released by Cancer Research UK shows the impact of colourful, glitzy branding on impressionable youngsters.

When asked about how brand-aware children are, almost a third of parents and grandparents said that they thought it was important to their oldest child or grandchild to have specific branded goods.

And more than three-quarters of those surveyed think the stylish, colourful branding, striking logos and distinctive packet designs make tobacco products more appealing to children.

Meanwhile 86 per cent of people in Wales believe children should not be exposed to any tobacco marketing.

Ex-smoker Ron Fickling, from Merthyr Tydfil, survived lung cancer and is now urging people in Wales to back ‘The Answer is Plain’ campaign.

The 59-year-old says he supports any measure that makes cigarettes less attractive to people – particularly youngsters.

Cancer Research UK says plain, unbranded packaging is needed to reduce the appeal of tobacco products to children and help give the nation's young people one less reason to start smoking.

Watch Cancer Research UK's full campaign video above.

Last week it was announced that the Big Lottery Fund has earmarked £850,000 for a new ‘quit smoking’ service for teenagers, which they can access through social media, text messaging and a telephone helpline.

The poll was conducted by YouGov plc. The total sample size was 4099 adults in the UK and 250 in Wales. Fieldwork was undertaken between 30th March - 2nd April 2012.

The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all adults (aged 18+)