Cigarette pack

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A packet of cigarettes from the time of the Second World War
Modern packs of cigarettes

A cigarette pack ( cigarette box ) is an often cuboid container , usually made of cardboard , in which several cigarettes are contained. In Switzerland will take cigarette pack more often, the term packs of cigarettes or cigarette Päckli used in Austria, however, the form of cigarettes Packerl . The packs for cigarette vending machines are usually of the same size.

Pack size

In some countries, increases in sales prices or tobacco taxes can lead to the number of cigarettes in a change in order to obtain a smooth and thus vending machine-compatible retail price. In Switzerland , the pack size is set at 20 pieces. Vending machine cigarettes may differ in price from the normal retail price, as they are usually rounded up to the nearest 50 cents .

In Germany , a minimum size of 17 cigarettes was required by 2010, which was increased to 19 in 2010 and since 2016 to at least 20 cigarettes per pack. Some brands also offer so-called big packs , which contain up to 25, in some cases 30 cigarettes, and maxi packs , which contain more cigarettes than the corresponding big pack of the brand . On the cigarette rod, i.e. H. In the container in which several boxes are packed together, the size of the pack can be seen in Germany by the corresponding labeling, whereby OP stands for Original Pack (ung), BP for Big Pack and MP for Maxi Pack.

In Austria , packs of 20 are common. Only in the case of individual brands, however, also larger or smaller, more likely with imported products. Vending machines only contain packs of 20. Before the introduction of the euro, cigarette prices had to be paid in whole shillings, since the changeover the prices have been graduated in 5-cent steps. With the modernization of the coin operated machines, most of the machines give change today.

In Germany, packs of 10 or 12 pieces used to be common. Packs of ten re-established themselves from 2003 until they were finally banned in mid-2004 on the grounds that these smaller and therefore cheaper boxes would encourage young people to smoke more than the normal boxes. In Austria, too, there were boxes of 10 until the 1970s. Cigarettes could also be sold individually. This was quite common in inns. Above all in variety theaters and dance halls , this used to be done by a “cigarette girl” with a tray . While packs of ten were or are legal longer in other countries (e.g. in the UK until March 2016), the sale of individual cigarettes is now banned in many countries, but still common (e.g. on the streets of New York City ) .

German tax stamp

Tax stamp

In many countries, the cigarette packet contains a tax stamp (official seal ) affixed to the top , which documents the correct taxation of the cigarettes contained and thus also the origin.

In Austria, it is only available on packs whose pack design was not produced directly for Austria. In the case of soft packs, it is attached to the top, and in the case of hard packs on the side and back (each under the plastic cover), so that it is destroyed or peeled off when opened.

Pack types

Flip top box

Hard pack

As Hard Pack ( Engl. For cardboard packaging , also flip-top box) is known in the cigarette industry, the common box packaging that consists of relatively heavy card. The box is lined with an aroma protection paper or aroma protection film and sealed airtight with a transparent film . The box is opened by pulling the so-called " pull tab ". In contrast to the softpack, the counterpart to the hardpack, the hardpack can usually be closed again (exception e.g. F6 in the normal type).

Soft pack from the H. Upmann brand

Soft pack

In the cigarette industry, a soft pack ( paper packaging ) is a packaging made of relatively thin paper instead of the cardboard box that is usual for hard packs. Unlike this, the soft pack cannot be closed again. Cigarettes in soft packs are usually 10 cents or 10 cents cheaper than cigarettes in hard packs, but with soft packs there is a higher probability that the cigarettes will break.

Cigarette case

A metal cigarette case

A cigarette case is a container for storing cigarettes or cigarillos . Already in the Wild West there were cigarette cases made of wood to store the hand-made cigarettes. Later the wood was replaced by metal and the cases spread more and more. With the invention of the cigarette packs, the sale of cigarette cases fell rapidly. After the end of the Second World War , the trend towards cigarette cases reappeared, especially in Germany, for reasons of cost. Today, cigarette cases are often associated with the 1950s and are mostly seen among older smokers. However, there are also cigarette cases on the market specially designed for younger customers with sarcastic reliefs such as skulls, skeleton hands or completely in the form of a coffin.

There are also boxes made of leather or sheet metal in pack size, which are primarily intended to offer soft packs protection against crushing and an optical improvement, but can also be used for individual cigarettes.

Use as an advertising medium

Cigarette packets are by no means only used as a means of transporting and storing their contents, but are to be understood as an important means of communication in the tobacco industry.

Especially against the background of the extensive tobacco advertising ban , packaging design plays a decisive role in cigarette marketing. The appealing elaboration of the various elements - color, font, graphic elements, proportions, structure and material - fulfills a variety of functions.

In the abundance of cigarettes on offer, a pack must first clearly stand out from other, similar products and guarantee a high recognition value in order to positively influence the buyer's choice. The brand image, which is communicated through the packaging design, serves as the basis for identifying the smoker with the consumer good that he ultimately has with him and that he repeatedly presents to a certain public. In this sense, the consumer must be able to understand the cigarette packet as part of himself, through which he can express his personality. For this purpose, the design is often target-group-specific, for example cigarette packets are kept particularly slim and provided with delicate motifs and colors in order to appeal specifically to girls and women.

In addition, the packaging conveys important product characteristics through the choice of color and material. Red usually stands for an intense taste, green for menthol cigarettes and light colors for a lower tar or nicotine content. Cigarettes without additives are mostly clad in earth-colored paper sleeves that are intended to convey the impression of naturalness and sustainability.

Ultimately, the entire packaging design serves to encourage the customer to (spontaneous) purchase.

As an advertising medium for the funeral in Vienna is Bestattungsmuseum a case made of aluminum sheet in the design of a cigarette including imprint "Smoking secures jobs!" sold in warning design.

EU warnings

Two hard packs with different warnings

Since October 1, 2003, clearly visible warnings have been required on both broad sides of every cigarette pack in all member states of the European Union and in Switzerland . In Germany, the obligation to notify is standardized by the Tobacco Product Ordinance of November 20, 2002; this serves to implement the EU directive on the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products (2001/37 / EC). The legal text regulates the size and design of the warning notices in detail. For example, the general information must occupy at least 30 percent and the supplementary information at least 40 percent of the width of the pack.

On April 3, 2014, the new Directive 2014/40 / EU was passed by the European Commission. This stipulates that cigarette packaging and other packaging for tobacco products must now be labeled with a warning that takes up 65% of the entire pack. Directive 2014/40 / EU is implemented in Germany by the Tobacco Products Act.

In addition, the wording of the warning notices is specified: In addition to the general warning notices

  • "Smoking kills" or
  • "Smoking can be fatal" or
  • "Smoking causes considerable harm to you and the people around you"

a supplementary warning from the following list must be attached:

  1. Smokers die earlier.
  2. Smoking can be deadly.
  3. Smoking blocks the arteries and causes heart attacks and strokes .
  4. Smoking causes fatal lung cancer .
  5. Smoking during pregnancy harms your child.
  6. Protect children - don't let them breathe your tobacco smoke!
  7. Your doctor or pharmacist can help you quit smoking.
  8. Smoking is addicting very quickly: don't even start!
  9. Quitting smoking reduces the risk of fatal heart and lung diseases.
  10. Smoking can lead to a slow and painful death.
  11. You can find help here if you want to quit smoking: Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) Tel .: 01805-313131, www.rauchfrei-info.de.
  12. Smoking can impair blood circulation and cause impotence.
    Warning notice on a pack of cigarettes
  13. Smoking ages your skin.
  14. Smoking can damage the spermatozoa and reduce fertility.
  15. Smoke contains benzene , nitrosamines , formaldehyde and hydrocyanic acid .
  16. Smoking causes significant harm to you and the people around you.

The warnings are to be used alternately so that they appear regularly on the packaging. The indication of tar , nicotine and carbon monoxide content has been banned since May 2016.

The aim is the health education of the smoking and non-smoking population. The use of the cigarette pack as a means of communication in the tobacco industry is to be restricted. In addition to low costs, this type of conveyance of health knowledge is characterized above all by its high range and direct and comprehensive addressing of consumers and non-consumers. Smokers should be encouraged to quit smoking, non-smokers should be discouraged from starting tobacco consumption. In this way, information can also be conveyed directly to target groups that are otherwise difficult to reach.

However, a new market has opened up. In the meantime, overcoats made of paper are being offered, which, when pushed over the box, cover precisely these warning texts. Image and text templates for a parodic design of corresponding knackers can be downloaded from the Internet. Also, T-shirts and accessories with warnings and parodies such are available.

In Switzerland the warning notices are printed in the three national languages ​​German, French and Italian, in Belgium in Dutch, French and German, the area on the box for the notices is overall larger than in the other EU countries.

A tightening of the warning notices through relentless, realistic images has now been introduced in Canada , the entire EU, Australia , Thailand , Brazil , Turkey , Switzerland and, since May 20, 2016, in Germany.

Studies show that image-based cues are better perceived and viewed for longer and can be viewed as more emotionally effective, so that a higher positive influence on health knowledge and on the motivation to quit smoking can be assumed.

Packaging unit ( Plain packaging )

The so-called unit packaging , English plain packaging , denotes a further level of containment of tobacco marketing, the standardization of tobacco product packaging.

This means the standardization of the design of all tobacco product brands. Specific brand elements such as logos or lettering are not used; The font, font size and package base will be standardized. This would significantly reduce the attractiveness of the individual boxes, undermine the suggestive effect of the choice of color and design and create more space for conveying health-related knowledge. It can also be assumed that warnings would then be better perceived. The Australian government has already dared to take this rigorous step. Since the end of 2012, manufacturers have only been allowed to sell olive-green standard packaging - printed with the already common shock photos and warning notices. It is following a recommendation from the WHO .

As part of the revision of the European Tobacco Product Directive 2001/37 / EC, the German Cancer Research Center recommends the implementation of an EU-wide standardization of packaging. On April 3, 2014, the new Directive 2014/40 / EU was passed by the European Commission. However, this leaves the member states free to introduce plain packaging . France , Hungary , Great Britain and Ireland have so far made use of this discretion . Then has Philip Morris sued and a British court referred the dispute to the Court for decision.

Despite various concerns about whether the measure is too paternalistic and violates fundamental rights, legal scholars consider the introduction of plain packaging in the EU to be constitutional with the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and the German Basic Law.

Web links

Commons : Pack of Cigarettes  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
Wiktionary: cigarette pack  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Section 23 Paragraph 3 TabStG (until 2010), then in Section 25 Paragraph 2 TabStG; since May 2016 direct application of Article 14 Paragraph 1 of Directive 2014/40 / EU
  2. ^ Sales of 10 pack cigarettes to be banned from tomorrow . In: Mail Online . ( dailymail.co.uk [accessed July 10, 2017]).
  3. ^ Joseph Goldstein: On Manhattan Streets, Loosie Men Sell Illegal Smokes . In: The New York Times . April 4, 2011, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed July 10, 2017]).
  4. ↑ a b c German Cancer Research Center (ed.): A picture says more than a thousand words: combined warnings from pictures and text on tobacco products. (PDF; 3.1 MB), Heidelberg 2009.
  5. ↑ German Cancer Research Center (Ed.): Cigarette advertising in Germany - Marketing for a product that is hazardous to health (PDF; 9.2 MB), Heidelberg 2012.
  6. ↑ Gallows humor at Bestattung Wien orf.at, August 21, 2016, accessed August 25, 2016.
  7. ↑ Directive 2014/40 / EU
  8. ↑ Shock photos on cigarette packets: Treasury earns less Münchner Abendzeitung from June 11, 2016.
  9. ↑ a b German Cancer Research Center (Ed.): Improvement of youth and consumer protection through the revision of the European Tobacco Product Directive 2001/37 / EC (PDF; 2.3 MB), Heidelberg 2010.
  10. ↑ How beneficial are shock photos for smokers? . Frankfurter Rundschau from October 8, 2013.
  11. ↑ Directive 2014/40 / EU
  12. ↑ Conor Barrins: Ireland pushes Europe's anti-smoking drive with plain packaging ( English ) businessinsider.com. November 30, 2014. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  13. ↑ Lorraine Conway, Sarah Barber: Standardized packaging of tobacco products ( English ) Parliamentary. January 22, 2015. Accessed September 7, 2019.
  14. ^ Tobacco giants win right to challenge EU Bill .
  15. ↑ Shmatenko, Standard packaging for tobacco products and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, ZfRV 2014, 4 .
  16. ↑ [1]