On World No Tobacco Day the Middlesex – London Health Unit and their One Life One You advocacy group are calling for the community to join them in wanting plain and standardized tobacco packaging. A group of youth activists known as Freeze The Industry is coordinating the campaign against the tobacco industry and they’re using social media to do it.
I’m not okay with 100 Canadians dying each day just so Big Tobacco can fill their pockets with $$$ #WNTD17 #FTIPSP https://t.co/tptG1njmJl pic.twitter.com/pIwjYp8I5j
— MLHealthUnit (@MLHealthUnit) May 31, 2017
The tactic is called a Thunderclap, where many people tweet or post the same message to social media at the same time in order to get it to as many people as possible. The Plain. Simple. Standard. campaign is a call for tobacco packaging to be plain and standardized, meaning all cigarette packages would be the same colour and would have the same plain font, with no logos or brand designs.
Linda Stobo, Program Manager for Chronic Disease and Prevention Control with the Middlesex – London Health Unit says plain and standardized packaging…
- Discourages young people from starting to smoke
- Decreases the amount of cigarettes smoked by those who are addicted
- Promotes quit attempts while reducing the risk of relapse
Countries around the world like France, Australia and the United Kingdom have already switched to plain packaging and Stobo says the number of smokers in each country has dropped due to the switch.
The Plain. Simple. Standard. campaign had a successful day but they are expecting push back from “Big Tobacco” but they won’t back down until there is legislation to change to plain packaging.
