12A.0 Introduction and rationale for health warnings

Mandated health warnings on tobacco packaging are a highly cost-effective way to:

• inform consumers about the toxic constituents of tobacco smoke
• increase understanding of the health effects of smoking and
• provide details of where to go for advice on quitting.

As set out in Section 12.9, facts about the constituents of tobacco smoke can be included on packaging to increase consumer understanding of the mechanisms through which smoking causes disease. 

To ensure that all consumers are fully informed, health information should be required on every type of tobacco product, not just on the packaging for ready-made cigarettes. It should cover all the health problems that have been determined to be caused by smoking, not just a selection of them.

Requiring health warnings on every tobacco package ensures that smokers and potential smokers see the warnings every time they are about to purchase a tobacco product, and every time they handle it. A 20-per-day smoker would be exposed to a health warning about 7000 times each year. Warnings on cigarettes themselves extend and repeat warning messages about smoking each time the individual picks up a cigarette and smokes it. Beyond a Quitline number on the packs, cards inserted into tobacco packages (known in Australia as health promotion inserts) provide additional ‘real estate’ in the pack to encourage cessation, increase understanding of the cessation process and promote available cessation services —See Section 12A.1.

In 2025, Australia introduced a new regime for consumer information on tobacco products, the sixth and most comprehensive scheme yet for product warnings on and in tobacco packaging. The detailed requirements of this scheme are provided in Section 12A.1 and the previous schemes introduced in 1969, 1987, 1996, 2006 and 2012 are described in full in Section 12A.2. An extensive body of research confirms the effectiveness of graphic health warnings both internationally (see Section 12A.3) and in Australia (refer Section 12A.5).

Experience in designing, evaluating and upgrading consumer product information for tobacco products both in Australia and elsewhere indicates that the content, style and presentation of package warnings can greatly affect how noticeable and how memorable they are, and the extent to which consumers understand, believe and feel empowered to act upon the information they contain—See Section 12A.4.

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (the Convention) contains provisions relevant to packaging and labelling of tobacco products under Article 11.¹ The Convention is an international treaty that provides a global policy framework for Parties to implement strong measures against the death and disease caused by smoking.    

Under Article 11, Parties to the Convention are required to ensure that each package of tobacco products carries health warnings that:

• are in the country’s principal language/s;
• are rotating; large, clear, visible and legible;
• cover 50% or more of the principal display area but no less than 30%;
• may include pictures;
• as well as ensuring packaging is not misleading or likely to create the impression that a particular product is less harmful than another.

In 2008, the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco adopted Guidelines (re-published in 2013) intended to assist Parties to meet their obligations under Article 11.² The Guidelines include several recommendations regarding health warning design including that health warnings:

• cover as much of the main display areas as possible;
• be placed on the front and back of packaging recognising that the front is the most visible part of a package;
• be placed at the top rather than the bottom of packaging to increase visibility;
• include both pictures and text as evidence shows they are far more effective than text only warnings;
• cover a range of topics as different warnings resonate with different people; and
• are rotated as messages and changes in layout and design are important to maintain saliency and increase effectiveness. (WHO FCTC, Article 11 Guidelines)³

While progress on graphic health warnings has been resisted by the tobacco industry in the United States, more and more countries are moving to pictorial warnings, with large and extremely potent images required in a steadily increasing number of jurisdictions—See Section 12A.3. It is expected that this trend will continue as Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control further enhance implementation of Article 11 and move towards warning about a more complete set of health risks. Support for consumer health information on tobacco products is high in Australia and internationally both among consumers themselves and the wider public—see Section 12A.9.

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References

1. World Health Organization. WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. New York: United Nations, 2003. Available from: https://fctc.who.int/resources/publications/i/item/9241591013.

2. World Health Organization. Decisions of the third session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Third session, Durban, South Africa, 17-22 November 2008 Document FCTC/COP/3/DIV/3; 16 February 2009, p19. Decision FCTC/COP3(10)–Guidelines for implementation of Article 11.  2009. Available from: http://apps.who.int/gb/fctc/PDF/cop3/FCTC_COP3_DIV3-en.pdf.

3. World Health Organization. Guidelines for implementation of article 11. WHO, 2013. Available from: https://fctc.who.int/resources/publications/m/item/packaging-and-labelling-of-tobacco-products.