According to a new study from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Project, at the University of Waterloo, cigarette packs without branding have lowered the appeal of cigarettes, reports Medical Xpress.

Plain packaging was introduced in Canada at the beginning of 2020, as it became the tenth country to require packaging to be standardized and not feature branding. However, unlike in other countries the plain packaging was not accompanied by new warnings and simply replaced the warnings that have been in place since 2012, reports Medical Xpress.
The ITC study examined 4,600 smokers in Canada in 2018 before plain packaging came into effect and in 2020 after plain packaging had become mandatory. It found that in the two-year period, the amount of people who did not like the look of the cigarette pack had increased from 28.6 per cent in 2018 to 44.7 per cent in 2020. The study also looked into behavioural patterns of smokers in Australia and the US where packaging regulations had remained the same during this period and found there was no change in smokers’ reported pack appeal, according to Medical Xpress.
However, the study also showed that because the plain packaging was not accompanied by new revised warnings, warning effectiveness in Canada was not increased whereas it was in other countries that had revised warnings.
"Canada's plain packaging success strengthens the evidence of the power and importance of this regulation to combat smoking. At the same time, our findings point to the need for more frequent enhancement and revision of health warnings to maximize their impact," said Geoffrey Fong, professor of psychology at Waterloo, and Principal Investigator of the ITC Project.