Tobacco branding plan will make no difference

Your coverage and editorial pieces on the Australian position regarding plain packaging for tobacco products, fails to mention the downsides.

There is no hard evidence that a brand encourages children, whereas marketing and advertising are the accepted methods of attracting new customers to a company’s products.

The brand, though, is there to distinguish one company from another, and strong brands value this as their competitive advantage once a customer is in the market to buy in the first place. In Ireland, cigarette packets must be hidden, so brand never takes effect until after purchase, not before.