| Summary: | Introduction
China is the world’s largest tobacco-consuming nation. With minimal
packaging regulations, the Chinese tobacco industry can use many appeals to
promote their products, including calling upon traditions and culture to make
positive connections between consumers and harmful products. We analyzed the
nature and extent of cultural appeals on Chinese cigarette packs.
Methods
A total of 610 unique cigarette packs were collected in 2017 from five
major Chinese cities (Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Kunming, and Chengdu)
following a systematic protocol. Two trained independent coders knowledgeable
about Chinese culture and language coded the packs in accordance with a specially
developed codebook encompassing important Chinese cultural symbols. The
prevalence of identified elements was determined and interpreted.
Results
Overall, 60.7% (n=370) of the analyzed Chinese cigarette packs in our
sample contained at least one culturally specific appeal. The most common cultural
appeals included written arts (n=131; 21.5%), celebratory red as the primary pack
color (n=119; 19.5%), visual arts (n=70; 11.4%), and special occasions (n=60;
9.9%). There was a diverse range of cultural appeals present on the packs.
Conclusions
Cultural appeals are common on Chinese tobacco packaging, with over
60% of all analyzed packs containing at least one culturally specific element. With
China’s packaging policies requiring health warning labels to occupy only 35% of
the pack, the tobacco industry is allowed plenty of package space to incorporate
cultural elements among other appeals. A plain and standardized packaging policy
would eliminate the ability for Chinese tobacco companies to use cultural appeals
on their cigarette packs.
Tob.
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