Abstract
Leadership and innovation is essential to improving public health and never more so than when faced with an opponent as formidable, and well-resourced, as the global tobacco industry. Plain packaging policies for tobacco products do not allow any colors, logos, or markings on tobacco packaging, and the brand names of the product are all printed on the packaging in a standard font and size. One of the very first arguments to emerge against the introduction of tobacco plain packaging was that it wouldn’t work and had never been done before. By this logic, no tobacco control policy could ever actually be implemented as someone, somewhere, has to be the first. This chapter outlines how Australia came to be the first nation in the world to adopt plain packaging regulations for tobacco products and summarizes some of the key lessons learned for advancing innovative public health policies.
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Appendices
Discussion Questions
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1.
What historical factors helped set the stage for tobacco plain packaging in Australia? How did international organizations and other governments support the success of this program?
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2.
What guidelines and recommendations are outlined in the FCTC and MPOWER?
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3.
What can other public health advocates learn from the plain packaging success in Australia?
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4.
Countering opposing arguments is a key public health advocacy strategy. How would you counter opposition for other health issues, such as gun control or sugar tax increases?
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5.
How can nations with less resources than countries like Australia adopt policies that are likely to be subject to costly legal challenges? How do corporations influence public policy? How can or should this be managed?
Follow-Up Readings
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Chapman, S., Freeman, B. (2014). Removing the emperor’s clothes: Australia and tobacco plain packaging. Sydney: Sydney University Press. Retrieved from: http://purl.library.usyd.edu.au/sup/9781743323977.
-
Maddox, R., Durkin, S., Lovett, R. (2016). Plain packaging implementation: Perceptions of risk and prestige of cigarette brands among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 40(3):221–5.
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Mitchell, A.D., Voon, T., (2014). The global tobacco epidemic and the law. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, Limited.
-
Scollo, M.M., Freeman, B., Greenhalgh, E.M. (2016). Packaging as promotion. 11.10. In Scollo, M.M. and Winstanley, M.H. (editors). Tobacco in Australia: Facts and issues. Melbourne: Cancer Council Victoria. Retrieved from: http://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-11-advertising/11-10-tobacco-display-as-advertising1.
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Wakefield, M.A., Zacher, M., Bayly, M., Brennan, E., Dono, J., Miller, C., et al. (2013). The silent salesman: An observational study of personal tobacco pack display at outdoor café strips in Australia. Tobacco Control, 23:339–44.
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Freeman, B. (2019). Australia’s Tobacco Plain Packaging. In: Withers, M., McCool, J. (eds) Global Health Leadership. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95633-6_1
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