Australian Cigarette Packaging Censorship - Has it gone too far?

The Australian government is moving to have cigarette company/brand logos removed from packages and replaced with graphic images of diseased lungs. The only thing that would differentiate one brand from another would be some small generic text with the brand's name. Tobacco companies are already complaining that such packaging will reduce sales. But, isn't that the point?

The whole Australian proposal got me thinking, the "Tumor Pack" concept could have some useful spin-offs. Why not beef up other warning labels? Or, create frightening labels where there weren't ones before? Here are three such possibilities:

1) Alcohol – In the US, alcohol is currently labeled with the ABLA warning: “(1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects [INSERT GRAPHIC IMAGE HERE]. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery [INSERT GRAPHIC IMAGE HERE], and may cause health problems [INSERT GRAPHIC IMAGE HERE].

2) Hairdryers – Here is part of the label from my wife’s hairdryer: “Keep away from water! Danger! ‘Unplug It!’ Do not remove this tag! Warn children of risk of death by electric shock! [INSERT GRAPHIC IMAGE HERE]”

3) Automobile Airbags – “Warning! Death or serious injury can occur. [INSERT GRAPHIC IMAGE HERE] Children age 12 and under can be killed by the air bag [INSERT GRAPHIC IMAGE HERE] … Never put a rear facing child seat in the front… etc…”

Admittedly, some of these images might seem a bit macabre and disturbing. Certainly, images of dead or injured children are bound to be controversial, but consider the lives saved. Are smokers the only ones we want to attempt to scare into safety? Or is it the addictive nature of smoking that seems to require stronger and more disturbing measures to be taken in an attempt to improve public health?

Think about it. If you are someone who may be apt to put hairdryers in the tub while they are plugged in, you may be a bit dim, but you’re probably not a stupidity addict. In fact, you probably won’t be around long enough to find out if such behavior could be addictive. However, keep smoking in spite of calm warnings about how bad it is for your health, and how it could kill you, and there may be other factors at play.

Whatever the reasoning… cigarettes will probably have graphic labels long before any of the others will. Alcohol, well… we don’t want to scare people off of it completely, right? I mean, there is such a thing as moderation. And, what red-blooded American wants to look at pictures of children with birth defects, and bloody accident victims while partaking in his/her well-deserved after-work beer (assuming that red-blooded American still has a job.) And hairdryers? Well, let’s be honest… two words: Natural Selection. Airbags? We are trying to get our auto manufacturers back on track, fiscally. Just think about how mini-van sales will plummet if little Billy and Annie have to look at images of disembodied children next to their built-in, in-car DVD system.