title: Does the hand that controls the cigarette packet rule the smoker? Findings from ethnographic interviews with smokers in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the USA.
abstract: Throughout the twentieth century, packaging was a carefully cultivated element of the appeal of the cigarette. However, the tobacco industry's control over cigarette packaging has been steadily eroded through legislation that aims to rebrand the packet from a desirable to a dangerous commodity-epitomized in Australia's introduction of plain packaging in 2012. Evident in both the enactment of cigarette packaging legislation and industry efforts to overturn it is the assumption that packets do things-i.e. that they have a critical role to play in either promoting or discouraging the habit. Drawing on 175 ethnographic interviews conducted with people smoking in public spaces in Vancouver, Canada; Canberra, Australia; Liverpool, England; and San Francisco, USA, we produce a 'thick description' of smokers' engagements with cigarette packets. We illustrate that despite the very different types of cigarette packaging legislation in place in the four countries, there are marked similarities in the ways smokers engage with their packets. In particular, they are not treated as a purely visual sign; instead, a primary means through which one's own cigarette packet is apprehended is by touch rather than by sight. Smokers perceive cigarette packets largely through the operations of their hands-through their 'handiness'. Thus, our study findings problematize the assumption that how smokers engage with packets when asked to do so on a purely intellectual or aesthetic level reflects how they engage with packets as they are enfolded into their everyday lives.
authors: Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, 6303 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1, Canada. Electronic address: kibell@mail.ubc.ca.
authors: Kirsten
authors: K
authors: Bell
authors: School of Archaeology and Anthropology, AD Hope Building #14, Australian National University, ACT, 0200, Australia. Electronic address: simone.dennis@anu.edu.au.
authors: Simone
authors: S
authors: Dennis
authors: Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, School of Law and Social Justice, Room 1.16, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GB, United Kingdom. Electronic address: j.e.robinson@liverpool.ac.uk.
authors: Jude
authors: J
authors: Robinson
authors: Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 180 Grand Avenue, Suite 1200, Oakland, CA 94612-3749, USA. Electronic address: roland@prev.org.
authors: Roland
authors: R
authors: Moore
mesh_terms: D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D001315:Australia; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009656:North America; D011356:Product Labeling / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods; D019064:Product Packaging / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D019460:Tobacco Industry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D062789:Tobacco Products; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Australia; Canada; Cigarette packaging; Comparative study; Ethnographic interviews; Tobacco control; USA; United Kingdom