After using a controversial blurred image that appeared to be resembling a footballer as pictorial warning on cigarette packs, the Centre now wants to play safe and is gearing up to smudge the face to avoid being caught napping again. The ministry is mulling over two options, either to give an “Indian touch” to the existing photo, which is to change it with an Indian face and body or to remove the face and have a headless photo showing affected lungs.
The new photos have been sent to Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for approval. “The minister will take a final call if the face is needed in the photo or not. It could be either an Indian version of the existing photo or a headless figure,” said a senior official in the ministry.
The ministry had approached the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity in April to give them more options of photos for the tobacco manufacturers with a mandate that pictures should be “general”.
As reported by this newspaper earlier, the health ministry had decided to withdraw the existing photo, a blurred image appeared to be resembling English footballer, last month. While the health ministry officials maintained that the existing photo was mere sketch and did not relate to any person living or dead, the decision to change the picture was taken following the law ministry’s recommendation.
In their recommendation, the law ministry had said that the individual’s picture need not be put and instead the message to the masses about the injurious affects of smoking should not be diluted.
Once the Union health minister approves the new picture, the ministry will come out with the new notification for the manufacturers.
The officials also say that they may go for more than one option this time, in a view to give wider choice to the manufacturers.
The photos were changes last year from mild to harsh after a survey had suggested that the existing warnings were not proving to be effective.