Junk Food and Alcohol — Plain Packaging’s Next Target

January 28, 2015
NACS Online
As U.K. prepares to launch tobacco plain packaging next year, other countries consider similar approach for “unhealthy” products.
​LONDON – With tobacco plain packaging laws in effect in Australia and the pending plan to follow suit in the United Kingdom, some speculate that junk food and alcohol could be the next products to be targeted for generic packaging as a means to dissuade consumers from purchasing the items.
The U.K.’s plan to make tobacco companies sell their wares in standardized packs starting next year has revived concern among a broad group of consumer-product companies that other goods deemed unhealthy may be next in line for plain packaging. Already, products targeted include alcohol in Indonesia, infant formula in South Africa and fatty foods in Chile.
The food and drink industries may have to consider adopting new marketing strategies for well-known international brands if the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules in Australia’s favor in cases challenging the country’s 2012 plain packaging law for cigarettes. Such a development would be far reaching for consumer-goods makers, one industry group has said.
The U.K.-based Consumer Packaging Manufacturers Alliance, which represents brand owners and packaging companies, has said plain packaging would have “catastrophic effects” in the country, shifting investment and manufacturing jobs outside of Britain. Marques, a European body representing companies such as Unilever and Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, said “any plain-packaging requirements would be setting a precedent for other products.”
Companies also contend that plain packaging violates their intellectual property rights, which are laid out in an international treaty commonly known as Trips. While Article 20 of Trips says the use of trademarks “shall not be unjustifiably encumbered,” a separate part of the agreement, Article 8, says countries can amend laws to “adopt measures necessary to protect public health and nutrition.”
Governments are already acting upon that exception. Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy and home to the world’s biggest Muslim population, last year proposed legislation that would require alcohol manufacturers to either use plain packaging or place graphic warnings on labels to curtail consumption. Indonesia, a big exporter of cigarettes, is one of the five countries challenging Australia’s plain packaging of tobacco at the WTO. A decision is expected next year.
Chile has proposed regulations that would place images of “stop” signs on food high in fat, sugar and salt. Higher taxes, additional nutrition information and restrictions on the marketing and display of products are among other measures governments can impose short of plain packaging.