Less branding and more health warnings can reduce tobacco use in the European Union

A large-scale survey of 8,000 European citizens across 10 EU member states tested participants’ responses to health warnings in cigarettes and found that removing or reducing product branding and increasing the size of health warnings made cigarette packets significantly less appealing. Amitav Chakravarti writes that combined warnings provide an economical way to reduce the effectiveness of tobacco industry marketing and can contribute to changes in social norms and behaviours.