Re: cigarette pack warnings

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Hi All,

In oz the government has gone two steps further. The disease pictures =
have been with us for a few years. The most recent initiative is that =
tobacco products cannot be displayed on open shelves and have to be =
shelved behind closed cupboard doors with 'warnings' on them. Yet to =
come later this year is 'plain packaging' with no colour or branding, =
just the product name in small print, with the disease pictures and =
warnings covering most of the pack surface.

I have long since given up arguing about the 'effectiveness' of these =
messages, though I don't disagree with the comments that Rob, Deborah =
and others have made.

However, I think there is another more useful way of looking at this =
trend and the significance of the actions governments have been taking.=20=


In the first instance, we can see these moves as a progressive grab for =
control of real estate. Every additional square centimetre of space that =
is controlled by government rather than industry is a simple expression =
of increased power. What goes into that space is less important than =
control over the space itself.=20

Second, like much government communication of this type, it falls far =
more comfortably into the ritual of display rather than any notion of =
effective communication. This often happens in situations where =
governments would like to control something, find they cannot, but they =
can put on a good show to tell us that they care. It's like rain making =
ceremonies in societies that would like to control the weather, cannot, =
but can show that at least they tried by putting on a good rain making =
ceremony.

At a more general level, it seems to me that we information designers =
often fail to make the distinction between ritual and 'effective =
communication'. Both have their place and they sometimes overlap in both =
productive and unproductive ways. Indeed much of the schism between =
information design and graphic design hovers around a lack of clear =
distinction between these two legitimate aspects of design.

Warm regards from wintery Melbourne.

David
--=20


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blog: www.communication.org.au/dsblog
web: http://www.communication.org.au

Professor David Sless BA MSc FRSA
CEO =95 Communication Research Institute =95
=95 helping people communicate with people =95

Mobile: +61 (0)412 356 795
Phone: +61 (0)3 9489 8640
Skype: davidsless

60 Park Street =95 Fitzroy North =95 Melbourne =95 Australia =95 3068=

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