--- title: Plain Cigarette Packages May Deter Smokers, Studies Show description: A new collection of studies supports policy that will be voted on in England this may canonical: https://time.com/3711761/cigarettes-plain-pack-smoking/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-17T14:14:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:53.670Z article:section: Health og:title: Plain Cigarette Packages May Deter Smokers, Studies Show og:description: A new collection of studies supports policy that will be voted on in England this may og:url: https://time.com/3711761/cigarettes-plain-pack-smoking/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dac7d303eb2a331/69877f90a988ca83156ac80a/cigarette-pack.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1730 og:image:height: 973 og:image:alt: Cigarette Pack og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Plain Cigarette Packages May Deter Smokers, Studies Show twitter:description: A new collection of studies supports policy that will be voted on in England this may twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dac7d303eb2a331/69877f90a988ca83156ac80a/cigarette-pack.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Plain Cigarette Packs May Deter Smokers, Studies Show > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver- Tobacco [Watch (HLS stream): Last Week Tonight with John Oliver- Tobacco](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vqpRhi9C.m3u8) (0:18)  _Published 2015-02-16. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver- Tobacco_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 17, 2015 2:14 PM UTC  BLANK CIGARETTE PACKET ON WHITE BLANK CIGARETTE PACKET ON WHITEGetty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 17, 2015 2:14 PM UTC Tobacco packaging without labels or branding may keep new smokers away and prevent habitual smokers from lighting up regularly, a new series of studies finds. According to the studies, published in the journal [_Addiction_](http://www.addictionjournal.org/press-releases/the-growing-evidence-on-standardised-packaging-of-tobacco-products-), there is growing evidence that plain packages of cigarettes and other tobacco products reduce smoking rates and reduce outdoor smoking. The findings are largely based on evidence noted in Australia, where the government removed labels from cigarette packages and added graphic health warnings to packs two years ago. The studies also show that by removing the branding, young experimental smokers focus more on the health warnings on the package — though it found the impact on daily young smokers is minimal. “Even if standardized packaging had no effect at all on current smokers and only stopped 1 in 20 young people from being lured into smoking it would save about 2,000 lives each year,” _Addiction_ editor-in-chief Professor Robert West said in a [statement](http://www.addictionjournal.org/press-releases/the-growing-evidence-on-standardised-packaging-of-tobacco-products-). _Addiction_ published the series just months before the U.K. Parliament votes on standardizing tobacco product packaging, following in the footsteps of Australia. The government is already facing fierce backlash from tobacco companies in response to the law, _Reuters_ [reports](http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/02/17/us-health-tobacco-packaging-idINKBN0LL00V20150217). John Oliver brought up Australia’s law in his segment on tobacco marketing on this week’s _Last Week Tonight_: _Read next:_ [_This Is The Easiest Way to Get Better Sleep_](http://time.com/3709717/mindful-meditation-sleep/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3711761/cigarettes-plain-pack-smoking/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3711761/cigarettes-plain-pack-smoking/"},"headline":"Plain Cigarette Packs May Deter Smokers, Studies Show","datePublished":"2015-02-17T14:14:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:53.670Z","description":"Largely based on findings in Australia, which removed branding from tobacco packaging two years ago","url":"https://time.com/3711761/cigarettes-plain-pack-smoking/","keywords":["Addiction","Smoking","Studies","Research"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dac7d303eb2a331/69877f90a988ca83156ac80a/cigarette-pack.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dac7d303eb2a331/69877f90a988ca83156ac80a/cigarette-pack.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cigarette Pack","caption":"Cigarette Pack","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/addiction/","name":"Addiction"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3711761/cigarettes-plain-pack-smoking/","name":"Plain Cigarette Packs May Deter Smokers, Studies Show"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Last Week Tonight with John Oliver- Tobacco","description":"Last Week Tonight with John Oliver- Tobacco","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vqpRhi9C/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-16T17:01:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vqpRhi9C.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3711761/cigarettes-plain-pack-smoking/","duration":"PT18S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3711761/cigarettes-plain-pack-smoking/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```