When you buy that pack of cigarettes you might notice a change in the label. A 2009 act requires tobacco companies to start phasing out labels like light, medium and mild. Healthcare organizations say these labels are deceptive and lead some to believe they're less deadly than regular cigarettes.
Customers are also seeing another change. The old warning signs are now more in your face, bigger and bolder. Customers are noticing but say it still may not get some to quit smoking.
A smoker for 24 years, Ramona Hatley doesn't need the cigarette packaging to know the habit is dangerous, no matter what kind of cigarettes you choose.
"Just because they say light I never thought I was getting less of one thing or another," says Hatley.
But health care organizations like the
American Cancer Society believe labels like light, medium, and mild mislead customers into believing the products are less harmful than regular cigarettes.
Now, thanks to the
Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, cigarette companies are phasing out these terms by simply changing the labels. At the Tobacco Outlet customers are already noticing.
"They come back the next morning and say, 'ya'll gave me the wrong pack of cigarettes,' no they had to take the light off and it's a gold pack now," says Jane Ford.
The act also calls for bolder and stronger warning labels in hopes of deterring smoking.
TIm Haynes, a smoker for 30 years, prefers cigarettes in the blue pack, formally Camel lights. He says this new labeling may be persuasive to some.
"I think that it's a good thing they're warning younger people. When you've been addicted so long it doesn't make any difference," says Haynes
On that, he and Hatley agree.
"The packaging doesn't influence me one way or the other," says Hatley.
But the people at the Tobacco Outlet will follow the law and continue phasing out those labels while healthcare organizations will keep fighting to get people to quit smoking.
The people at the Tobacco Outlet say they're running pretty low on light and medium labels. At this point they're waiting to hear if they need to have them out of the store by a certain dater or if they can just sell them all out.
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act was signed into law June 22, 2009. If you want to quit smoking and need visit
American Lung Association online.
