Smokers and non-smokers please answer this?

i am 26, i have never smoked a *** in my life, all my friends do, when we were about 13 r 14 they all started and were trying to get me to try 1 but i never gave in, i actually thought they were the most disgusting things on earth, it wasnt the smoke and stuff, just the look of them and the habit my friends were getting accostomed to, now, they are addicted and try to stop but can not, i am so delighted i never ever tried 1, cos with my asthma and rough lungs i wud probably be worse off, still, the look of them does not appeal to me and has never.

　　 I've just stopped smoking, I'm sixteen, but when I started smoking a few years ago, it was never the packet, it was the price, surely it'll now be cheaper due to not needing to pay more for the packaging?

　　 And even when I was at my worst and didn't mind price, it was the taste, I was a big L&B silver fan, but I wouldn't really have cared about the packaging, I mean I'd rather not carry around boring white packets, but, it wouldn't have put me off.

　　 Anyone who buys cigarettes based completely on the packaging, are complete idiots!

　　 In fact I see a small problem with it, if the packages are all the same, then I'd have less of a clue, over which has less chemicals or tar or nicotine, as (odd as this sounds) girly packets and lights or whatever, just tended to be the better alternative.

　　 Furthermore, I do honestly believe that junk food is a bigger problem, the risks with smoking are well known and well documented, as opposed to fast foods, furthermore, smokers in my opinion work longer as they are able to, before health risks down to fast food start to happen the consumers, can gain a lot of weight and find it more difficult to work, therefore relying upon the state, in addition to this, junk food is something that affects a much younger audience too, I mean how many four year olds smoke? Compared to the amount who eat burgers? Moreover, in general the people who smoke are more aware of the effect, than those who eat unhealthily, not so much.

　　 Smokers have it drilled into them every day that smoking is killing them, you buy a packet, you see the picture, you see the warning, You turn on the television, you see the quit smoking adverts, you go out, you see the posters. Maybe junk food, alcohol and cars should be plain white, and have warnings and graphic pictures on the side, I personally see them as equally if not more dangerous, and albeit there is the danger of second hand smoke etc, precautions such as smoking outside can be taken, whereas cars kill innocent by standers etc.

　　 And finally, smokers pay for themselves, the private cost paid by all smokers, are more than enough to cover some smokers who need health care, do people who over engorge themselves on fast food? No.

　　 "It is a form of commercial censorship. No other product comes in plain white packaging. For some people it will make smoking slightly illicit. It will make smoking cool again." -> I like that, I never thought of that, maybe it'll be counter-productive?

Read the article, it tells you why they want to take the images and logos etc off in there. I personally don't smoke but know people who do. I think there are good points and bad points, it may cut sales slightly but with teenagers, to be quite honest they're probably happy to get hold of cigarettes no matter what they are. If all the packs are the same it will introduce a market for worse things to be put into them and you may not know what you're getting if you're sold them from a person rather then a shop which is admittedly unlikely. Worse drugs could be disguised in the plain packets though which would not be good.

As a fellow non smoker we have to live in society that is for all. You seem unnormally unresistant to cigarette smoke than most people even to other non smokers. But smokers are in their millions and the government that passed the legistation in your favor gets funding from smokers. Passing laws is not going to solve the problem as the problem is social that is backed up by taxation. Smokers pay tax to smoke then therefore they feel they paid for the privilage to smoke. Which is fair enough, they have paid to smoke not - not to smoke through taxation through tobacco. Blanket bans on smoking often comes with silly laws such as if smoke from a cigarette trails over your garden fence that is criminal when in reality outdoors it won't harm as it will only be a smell. Smokers are addicts that are supplied their habit by law. The government allow tobacco sales and profits. Changing the attitudes of smoking will do more than bans.

i don't think that would ever fly in the US. i'm sure someone would find a way to make it a free speech / censorship issue.

but to address the topic, i understand the theory - you destroy the brand identity, which is what people relate to, in an effort to break the chain of desire or interest. but i can't see that working in a practical sense. people aren't going to stop smoking simply because their marlboros are in a plain white pack instead of having their classic red top and such. just another example of the over-the-top war on tobacco.

it's funny how much we try to push personal responsibility as a global community, yet we're not responsible enough to look at a pack of cigarettes with a brand styling on it.

If teenagers want to smoke, then they will regardless of brand. Alot of my friends started before they were 16 (I would never touch one) and that was from curiosity and because they wanted to look like cool kids at the college party. So no, changing the pictures will not help. I think they should put huge bill boards up with pictures of people dieing becaus of smoking etc.

I think it's ridiculous. I don't know anyone, teenage or otherwise, who smokes because they were attracted to a particular brand of cigarettes.

First you decide you want to smoke, then you figure out your brand. Not the other way around.

i dont smoke but i defend your right to do it. this government is going way out of line with the nannying. whats next? all wine in dark bottles so we cant see the colour? all wine and spirits to be sold from under the counter?

they are planning to ban smoking in your own car. when they try that there should be a mass drive round the streets with every one smoking. i will buy a fake ciggy just to join in.

Like you I am and WILL remain a smoker I don't give a dam about packaging But what is currently P1SSING me off is Yet again being forced to do something that I don't want to do...ITS MY LIFE AND I WILL SMOKE

If people around me don't like it then thay can go outside ITS VERY VERY SIMPLE

I smoke newports and will untill I decide to stop I dont care what the package looks like.