Cigarette Companies Use Color, Rather than Words, To Convey Message

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is being given new authority to regulate the manufacturing and marketing of tobacco, after President Obama signed the '”Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act" into law last June. Starting next summer, large labels, warning about the health risks associated with smoking, must cover at least half of the front and back of cigarette packs. Certain flavored cigarettes will also be banned, and words like 'light' and 'mild' will no longer be allowed. The FDA cites studies that show those words give consumers a false sense that a ‘light’ or ‘mild’ cigarette is less harmful or may be easier to quit.
A few brands have already dropped those terms from their packaging. What used to be Pall Mall full flavor, light, and ultra light cigarettes, are now called ‘Red’, ‘Blue’ and ‘Orange’. Salem now labels their cigarettes ‘Box’, ‘Gold Box’, and ‘Silver Box’, and use an increasingly light shade of green. While those words may not seem to mean much, the new packaging is still getting a message across.
Even without words like 'light' on the packaging, many of the people we showed the new packaging to still perceived the lighter or brighter colors to be lower in nicotine, tar, or tobacco, and less harmful.
"Certain colors do elicit certain responses, feelings, emotions", said Tom Neal, Director of Brand Development at Kinziegreen in Wausau. He says with the tobacco already so heavily regulated, they're using the methods that are allowed as effectively as possible. "As the color scheme goes from darker towards lighter, you're seeing they're trying to say to the consumer the things they can't really say with words."
So while cigarette companies won't be able to say 'mild', 'light', or 'ultra-light', by using a cool, calming blue, an energetic orange, or even a natural, healthy light green, would-be customers are getting the message. That's something that has health officials concerned.
"They're trying to make the consumer believe that they are getting a healthier product as a result of the packaging.", said Renee Trowbridge, a public health educator for Marathon County. "They are doing a very good job of making it appealing."
Trowbridge works with teens who have been using tobacco, and says they're more affected by packaging and advertising than most consumers. She says that's something the tobacco companies are well aware of. "Their main strategy is to continue to make and market a product that appeals to young people", she said. "We know about 90 percent of people who smoke started before the age of 18."
Neal speculates that the regulations against the tobacco industry will continue to tighten. But he believes tobacco companies will simply continue to evolve their marketing to make their product appealing. "The advertisers are going to see what they can do how far they can push and what's available to them."
Trowbridge says the latest restrictions are a step in the right direction, but says until cigarettes stop appearing in magazines, films, and other places where young eyes see them, tobacco products will continue to find new consumers. "I think even if you did generic black and white packaging on cigarettes you are still going to have a product that will appeal to our young people", she said.