From: World Trademark Review
Jack Ellis
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has called for a review of current policy regarding cigarette packaging graphic health warnings (GHWs) after research suggested that it may be a contributory factor in the country’s growing illicit trade in tobacco products.
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The FICCI report asked survey respondents – who were made up of smokers from several major cities and rural areas, and for the most part prefer to smoke legal tobacco products – about the ‘attractiveness’ of packaging for legal and smuggled packs. It found that 31% to 46% of those who smoke smuggled packs find them ‘more attractive’ than legal packs. Moreover, 56% to 73% said they ‘prefer to carry’ illicit packs than legal packs. The report’s authors conclude that this is likely due to the fact that grey market packs will typically carry far smaller GHWs, or omit them altogether (in each case, the range in percentages is accounted for by the survey’s differentiation between ‘popular’ and ‘cheap’ commonly smuggled brands).
