Overview of the current situation and development

Overview of the current situation and development of China's tobacco packaging and printing market III

3. The impact of the Framework Convention on tobacco control and the reduction of the probability of damage with the increase of the distance between defects and the surface layer on future cigarette packets

①. The signing of the Framework Convention on tobacco control

on May 21, 2003, the world's first international law on tobacco control, The Framework Convention on tobacco control was unanimously adopted by 192 Member States, including China, at the 56th World Health Assembly. According to the latest statistics, by the end of August, 167 countries and the European Union had signed the Convention, and 16 countries, including Japan and India, had ratified the Convention. It can be said that the entry into force of the Convention is not far away

the launch of the Convention aims to reduce the number of deaths from tobacco related diseases worldwide each year by controlling the advertising, marketing and sales of tobacco and cigarette products. The Convention has made clear provisions on the composition, packaging, advertising, promotion, sponsorship and other issues of tobacco and its products

②. The provisions of the Framework Convention on tobacco control on cigarette packets

the Convention stipulates in the packaging provisions of tobacco products: each party shall take and implement effective measures in accordance with national laws within 3 years after the entry into force of this Convention for that party to ensure that: each box and unit packaging of tobacco products and any external packaging and labels of such products bear health warnings indicating the harmful consequences of tobacco use; And may include other appropriate information. These warnings and information: "it should occupy more than 50% of the main visible part, but should not be less than 30%, which can be in the form of pictures or pictograms. In addition to the prescribed warnings, the labels of each box and unit package of tobacco products and any external packaging of such products should also contain the information about the composition and release of tobacco products prescribed by the national authorities.

Convention" It clearly stipulates the restrictions on cigarette packets from content to form. These restrictions are relatively shocking to the tobacco industry. As we all know, the design and printing of cigarette packs are mainly composed of lines, color blocks, words, patterns and other graphic design elements, so as to illustrate the material and cultural connotation carried by cigarettes

but 30% or more of the area of the cigarette logo design pattern is occupied by aphorisms or visual images, then the overall visual effect of the cigarette logo will undergo revolutionary changes. More than a year after the introduction of the Convention, cigarette labels have been launched around the world in accordance with the requirements of the Convention for the public and insiders to judge

for nearly half a century before that, governments in various countries stipulated that health warnings should be printed on cigarette packets to remind smokers. In China, in 1990, the National Bureau stipulated that "smoking is harmful to health" must be added to all cigarette packages

as early as 1965 in the United States and 1971 in Canada, health warnings have been implemented. However, in the past 20 years, surveys of smokers have shown that the black-and-white warning messages printed on the side of cigarette packs have lost the effectiveness they once had

the restriction on cigarette bag design in the Convention is precisely because simple written warnings have no longer attracted the attention of smokers. And these disgusting pictures, such as bleeding and decaying gums and teeth, scarred and blackened heart, brain damaged by stroke caused by smoking, are to make the smoker's extended hand retract again

according to the report of the Canadian government health agency, from 2000 to 2002, the number of smokers in Canada decreased by 600000 in the year after the implementation of the new warning system in Canada. In a survey conducted by the Canadian Cancer Association last year with the continuous formation of customer reputation, nearly half of the people said that whenever they had the urge to light cigarettes, the shocking pictures on the cigarette box would give them the motivation to stop

③. The impact of the Framework Convention on tobacco control on Chinese cigarette packets

because the design style of foreign cigarette packets is simple, refreshing, and mostly composed of words and lines, it will be easier to change to the direction specified in the Convention. The design of the "Chinese style cigarette label" has a strong background of traditional oriental culture. It mostly sets off the text and patterns with a thick ink and heavy color background, which has a strong Chinese national style. If one day, according to the requirements of the Convention, warnings or pictures account for more than 30%, it will seriously affect the design expressiveness of "Chinese style cigarette labels". From the perspective of Chinese traditional culture and smokers' historical habits, it is difficult for them to recognize and identify. If, like Canada, the number of Chinese smokers drops sharply, it will not only have a huge impact on China's tobacco industry, but also on the cigarette packet printing industry with the lowest rung of the steel ladder (400 ± 5) mm above the ground. Therefore, with the drastic changes in China's tobacco industry in, the cigarette package printing industry is also facing a reshuffle

therefore, in order to increase the design power of cigarette labels from now on, cigarette label printing enterprises must carefully study the relevant provisions of the Convention, understand the meaning of various provisions, widely and deeply study and learn from the changes in cigarette labels and design styles of countries that have implemented the Convention (Canada, Brazil, etc.), and design cigarette labels that meet China's national conditions on the basis of a thorough understanding of the provisions and national cigarette labels, In order to seize the lead in the upcoming wave of cigarette label upgrading

(to be continued)