26 Jan 2012 - Coloured Cigarettes

I have always been against cigarettes and people smoking, I can believe that it is addictive and hard to quit but what I don't understand is why young people, who have been taught the risks associated with smoking, are still taking up this filthy habit. Previously cigarettes were seen as cool, and the advertising for cigarettes were everywhere, you could see them in magazines, on television or radio. I could believe in this environment that the advertsing would have kept them in the forefront of your mind and the image of cigarettes being cool would have contributed to people smoking. However, these days, there is no advertising, as it has been banned, and they are even looking to ban any type of branding on packaging of all cigarettes to make them seem generic. Smoking is becoming more restricted and the image of a smoker is no longer considered cool. In this environment of bans and restrictions on cigarettes, it surprises me that the cigarette companies are not looking for other ways to make their cigarettes distinguishable, which is why I was surprised to learn my fact for the day.

Today whilst having a conversation with my friend and her family, I discovered that in the 60's and 70's there were a brand of cigarettes called Cocktails which came in 5 different colours, as in the actual cigarette had a pastel coloured paper instead of white, and the filter was a gold colour. These cigarettes were apparently quite fashionable at the time. It got me to thinking, today everyone is looking to personalise their products, different colours and styles of phone covers and different coloured personal computers.  Also many other products that used to come in standard colours are now being produced in different colours to personalise their products to suit consumer tastes. It struck me as odd, that the idea of changing the colour of cigarettes has not occurred to these companies, when in fact, this kind of product has existed for almost as long as cigarettes have been around. Then I realised that cigarette manufacturers spend millions of dollars, if not billions, fighting different law suits against their companies, and millions of dollars fighting governments, such as the Australian government for reducing their market share with their laws around plain packaging. They are an inductry that is just fighting to maintain their position and probably don't see any point in trying to differentiate or excite people with the products, they are realistic that their companies are in decline, as more and more people quit smoking and more and more restrictions are being placed on smokers. What is the point in trying to excite people with their brand, if they try, someone will just shut their ideas down, so why try. I must say that this attitude suits me fine, because the sooner cigarettes are gone from this planet, the sooner everyone can breathe easier.

The brand of cigarettes were called Sobranie Cocktails, there is an article about them on wikipedia.