Brand yourself as repulsive

Listerine made a great marketing move with its mouthwash many years ago. The tagline went something like this: It's so foul tasting that you can be sure it's killing all those germs.

But this is much different, and I guess falls into what we could call "anti-branding"?

Starting next year, British law mandates that all cigarette packs and other tobacco products must feature graphic photographs showing the detrimental effects of smoking.

The idea is to shock more people into quitting.

What photos will be used?

In another canny move to increase awareness, the British Department of Health is letting the public decide through an online campaign. Visitors to the DH's website voted for the 15 most disturbing photos out of a possible 42.

(You can see them here, I stopped after the first one, shown above.)

British Health Secretary Alan Johnson says the pictures are necessary because smokers have grown numb to current written warnings on packages.

   

"We've had the messages on cigarette packets since 2003, warning that smoking kills, for instance, but the evidence is that's very effective, but it's diminishing in its effect.

   

"Using graphic images to get the same message across -- that smoking kills, that people who smoke will die younger".

To give credit where credit is due, the precursors in this are Belgium, Canada, India, Australia and Singapore.

Tags: smoking, health, cigarettes, tobacco

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