See: http://www.google.com.au/images?q=australian+cigarette+packa...
Which I believe does more harm than good. I know plenty of smokers who get through a pack a day; do you think this is more likely to inform smokers about health risks that they're not already aware of, or is it more likely to desensitise them to these risks?
I'm also curious to know who behind this plan doesn't remember being a 10-year-old and being fascinated by everything disgusting.
To catch young people in their market, I think tobacco companies focus more on teens' need for social belonging and defining their identity.
May have a look here: http://www.paleonu.com/get-started/
Has been helpful for me.
Counting calories and constant monitoring (for rewards) are the two cornerstones of my current weight loss (and it works) but I very much try to sneak a better diet in and I also really should start doing more sports.
The fact is, people will be aware that not everyone who smokes ends up looking like those images, which will help them ignore them; "It'll never happen to me", regardless of how likely it actually is.
It's an addiction after all, and I doubt if you wrapped any other drug (cocaine, meth, etc.) in a bag with these images drug-addicts would stop buying. Most likely, the anxiety of seeing something so horrific would make a drug-addict use more substance to escape from yet another worry.
I'm not into conspiracy theories, but in this case, I believe governments make too much money through cigarettes to really want to help people quit. These measures are just to make them look morally correct.
I'm convinced it's much more complicated than simple advertising. There's "peer pressure" effects, to be certain. Not the kind of peer pressure that D.A.R.E. warns you about ("hey, smoke this, everybody's doing it. you want to be cool, right?").
If you're a teenager (or college student - I started in college), it's probably more of a network effect. Hang out with people who smoke, and you're more likely to smoke yourself. After a few beers (or other inebriant of their choice), maybe it won't be so bad. Have a cigarette. Huh, nice buzz. Don't worry, I'll only smoke when I'm drinking. Before you know it (I know this isn't everyone - some people can stay social smokers just fine), you're buying a pack in anticipation of a night out. School starts stressing you out, maybe cigarettes will help. And they do, for a short period of time: a few minutes outside clearing your head with a pleasant buzz.
Of course, eventually you don't get that buzz except for the first one of the day. And for heavy smokers, they don't even get that. But it's hell if you try to quit, even with patches, gum, chantix, whatever.
I've only smoked for five years, but I've tried to quit eight times. If people ask me for cigarettes, I don't give them out - I don't know if they're in the starting stages of the addiction or not. And I'm not about to help someone else get addicted to these damn things.
I haven't bought a pack in two weeks now, mainly due to switching to e-cigarettes. If you're interested in quitting, the e-cigarettes worked better for me than the gum and patch. Don't know how long this will last (hopefully won't buy another pack ever again), but it's not been nearly as excruciating as quitting any other way.