Tobacco guilty of ‘cynical marketing’

Sir, Imperial Tobacco’s Richmond Superslims are indeed an innovative answer to tobacco advertising and promotion restrictions, but they should serve as a stark reminder that cigarette packaging is part of the marketing process. (‘Tobacco brands’ ideas light up’, Letters, 27 August).

What these new cigarettes and their packaging amount to is an attempt to coax young women into a lifetime of addiction and health problems. The government should see this malignant form of marketing for what it is and realise that plain packaging would help reduce the attractiveness of tobacco; increase the visibility and effectiveness of health warnings; and help reduce the number of smokers in the long term.

Mubeen Bhutta, policy manager, British Heart Foundation