Syracuse, NY -- Cigarette makers must stop making tobacco products today that use words like “light” and “mild” on packages to describe their smokes. But critics say the tobacco companies are skirting the ban by using colors on cigarette packages that convey the same misleading message to smokers. Marlboro Lights, for example, are now Marlboro Gold and Marlboro Regular is...
Syracuse, NY -- Cigarette makers must stop making tobacco products today that use words like “light” and “mild” on packages to describe their smokes.
But critics say the tobacco companies are skirting the ban by using colors on cigarette packages that convey the same misleading message to smokers. Marlboro Lights, for example, are now Marlboro Gold and Marlboro Regular is Marlboro Red.
Researchers at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo showed consumers cigarette packs without the descriptors like "lite" or "mild" and asked them to pick out the brands that were less harmful and easier to quit. Nearly all the consumers said cigarettes in the lighter color packages were less harmful, according to Michael Cummings, chair of the department of health behavior at Roswell and director of the New York State Smokers’ Quitline.
“They are using colors and pretty packaging to create an emotive response to a product and reinforcing a misperception that smokers have about cigarettes,” Cummings said.
He said the products don’t differ at all except for tiny vent holes in the filter tips that give smokers the illusion that a certain cigarette is stronger or milder. People who smoke cigarettes with the filter vents tend to take bigger, deeper puffs, exposing themselves to the same health risks they get from cigarettes with fewer vents, he said.
Philip Morris USA, the manufacturer of Marlboro, is using the same trademark colors on its packages to help consumers distinguish its brands from competitors’, said Bill Phelps, a company spokesman. He said the company has used gold on its packs of Marlboro Lights since the brand was introduced in the 1970s. “We do not use colors to communicate reduced tar,” Phelps said.
For many years packages have contained warnings indicating that cigarettes labeled “light” and “mild” are not safer and will not help people quit, Phelps said.
Tobacco companies can still ship packages with the descriptor words on them that were made prior to the ban until July 21. Retailers also can continue selling the old packages until supplies run out.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating the use of color in cigarette marketing.
Cummings of Roswell Park said tobacco companies should acknowledge there is no difference between their cigarettes and put them in plain packages. “The color of people’s lungs have not changed from smoking,” he said.
James T. Mulder can be reached at 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com.