• 5/5/2008
  • Invercargill, New Zealand
  • Sean Gillespie
  • The Southland Times (www.stuff.co.nz)

Some smokers are changing cigarette brands to avoid the graphic health warnings that became compulsory in late February.

Faster selling brands tend only to be available with the anti-smoking graphics but some slower selling brands are still available without the pictures.

Invercargill tobacconist Paul McKinlay said this had caused some of his customers to change to a brand with non-graphic boxes still available.

“Most of them are disgusted by the images — they’re very graphic.” Retailers have been given until August 31 to sell any remaining stock that does not have the warning images.

Mr McKinlay said some customers were also choosing between disease warnings when they bought their cigarettes.

“They go `nah, I don’t want the one with the pregnant lady; give me one with the toe tag’.” There are seven images smokers can choose from, including warnings about blindness, gangrene, mouth cancer, lung cancers and heart attacks.

Some smokers have been avoiding the warnings by buying cigarette pack covers. Sales of the covers had skyrocketed since the graphic health warnings started two months ago, Mr McKinlay said.

Anti-smoking group Ash spokesman Michael Colhoun, in Wellington, said high sales of the covers were a positive sign.

“The sheer fact that they’re using them means that the warnings are effective.” The Ministry of Health said the aim of the warnings was to help prevent some of the 5000-odd smoking-related deaths that happen in New Zealand each year. Quitline spokesman Hayden Sanders said many more people had been calling its service since the introduction of the graphic warnings.