NZ-branded cigarettes add to brand removal case

Marketing researcher Professor Janet Hoek says the advent of New Zealand-branded duty free cigarettes adds weight to the case for removing all branding from cigarette packets.

The Smokefree Coalition and Te Reo Marama (the Māori Smokefree Coalition) are calling for the immediate withdrawal of the cigarettes, which are available in airport stores throughout the country, saying they are an affront to all New Zealanders.

The cigarettes are made in Luxembourg, but come in black packaging, which includes the New Zealand silver fern.

Professor Hoek says the packets also include the descriptor ‘luxuriously mild cigarettes’, which, she says, is a further cause for concern. Research by Professor Hoek and marketing colleagues has shown that the descriptors “mild” and “light” can be misleading. “We know that smokers inappropriately associate health attributes with these descriptors. Add an attempt to associate these new cigarettes with a “clean, green” brand like New Zealand, and you have seriously misleading packaging”.

Professor Hoek supports a move to ban all branding from cigarette packets, with health warnings as the only pictorial image, as well as the withdrawal of the New Zealand branded packets.

Smokefree Coalition Director Mark Peck has described the cigarettes as an outrageous attempt to exploit New Zealand’s image. Te Reo Marama Director Shane Kawenata Bradbrook says the silver fern is an internationally recognisable symbol of New Zealand and its inclusion as branding for cigarettes is an insult.

ENDS