Tobacco marketing

Tobacco advertising is a major factor in encouraging young people to start smoking. We think there should be restrictions on all forms of tobacco marketing aimed at getting people to start smoking, especially young people.

With tobacco displays soon to be phased out across the UK, cigarette packs have become even more important to the tobacco industry.

Our report, The Plain Truth, shows how cigarette packaging can have a direct impact on young people's smoking behaviour, and how this can mislead them on the health harms of tobacco.

Read our report   

Find out how you can help

Plain, standardised packaging

Tobacco companies have used package design as a marketing tool to make products more attractive, acting as a 'silent salesman' for tobacco brands. Making all cigarette packs completely plain – showing only product name, brand, and health warnings – would stop them from doing this.

In polling carried out in 2011, we found that one in four young people that were regular smokers judged one brand to be healthier than another when presented with two different branded packs – the reality is that all cigarettes contain the same toxins, tar and carbon monoxide that lead to half of regular smokers dying prematurely from smoking-related diseases.

We think standardised packaging would help to save lives by:

Australia were the first country in the world to introduce plain packaging in December 2012 – we want the UK to be the first in the Northern hemisphere to take this bold step.

The Department of Health in England conducted a UK consultation on the packaging of tobacco products, and we responded encouraging them to introduce standardised packaging in the UK.

For more information, please read our policy statement or email us at policy@bhf.org.uk