SEOUL, June 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The Ministry of Health and Welfare held a national health promotion policy review on Monday and confirmed new warning images and slogans for cigarette products in the fourth phase that will start on Dec. 23.
The warning images and slogans printed on cigarette packs change every 24 months to maintain relevance.
This time, all 12 images and slogans including warnings about lung cancer, laryngeal cancer and indirect smoking, will be replaced, except for those on e-liquid cigarettes.
The warning image of lung cancer, that used to depict a zoomed-in photo of diseased tissue, will be replaced with a full-view photo that shows the entire lung, deteriorated in color and rigidified.
The so-called ‘early death’ image will be replaced with a cloud of cigarette smoke that depicts a skull.
Another image that warns against indirect smoking, which depicted a baby holding his nose to escape a cloud of cigarette smoke, will be replaced with a toddler sucking on a milk bottle full of cigarettes.
Warning slogans, too, will transition from focusing on the ‘level of hazard’ posed by cigarettes to emphasizing the ‘disease’ caused by smoking for all 12 kinds of cigarette products except for some e-cigarettes.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)