Plain tobacco packaging companies have had to sell their cigarettes in a logo-free, drab dark brown packaging from 1 December 2012. Government research found that a specific olive green colour, Pantone 448 C, was the least attractive colour, particularly for young people. After concerns were expressed over the naming of the colour by the Australian Olive Association, the name was changed to drab dark brown. With the plain packaging and tax increases the Australian government aimed to bring down smoking rates from 16.6% in 2007 to less than 10% by 2018. Statistics published in 2014 showed that the amount of excise and customs
Plain tobacco packaging (WHO FCTC). On 31 May 2016, on World No Tobacco Day, the WHO called on governments to get ready for plain packaging of tobacco products. Plain packaging appears to have been first suggested in 1989 by the New Zealand Department of Health’s Toxic Substances Board which recommended that cigarettes be sold only in white packs with black text and no colours or logos. Public health officials in Canada developed proposals for plain packaging of tobacco products in 1994. A parliamentary committee reviewed the evidence and concluded that plain packaging could be a “reasonable step in the overall strategy to reduce