Simon Clark - Taking Liberties

Yesterday I asked Deborah Arnott, CEO of ASH: what question did ASH/YouGov ask to get the response that "Almost two thirds of people support moves to sell cigarettes in plain packaging".

Well, this is how they did it. Researchers showed a pictorial example of a plain pack with a baby and the warning 'Smoking when pregnant harms your baby' and then asked:

The image above is an example of a 'plain standardised pack' based on Australian legislation passed last year (source: ASH, 2012). Thinking about the packaging above, to what extent would you support or oppose the following? Requiring tobacco to be sold in plain standardised packaging with the product name in standard lettering.

Doh!

The manipulation is so over the top that you have to laugh. My next question is: will Tobacco Control stop at nothing to denormalise smokers?

Source: YouGov/ASH Survey Results. Sample size: 10,000 English adults, fieldwork: 27th February to 16th March 2012.

PS. An online poll of around 2,000 adults would typically cost about £3,000. ASH/YouGov polled 10,000. You do the maths.

Update on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 11:28 by

Simon Clark

I have just picked up a message on voicemail from Martin Dockrell of ASH. It must have been left before he read the post above.

According to Martin, the new survey contains "none of the hypothetical stuff [my italics] that we did in our previous survey".

He then recites the question (which I already knew, having got it from another source) followed by the result, and adds – a little cheekily, I thought:

"I guess we're going to see a correction on your blog. Or not."

I don't know about a "correction", Martin. I'm happy to put the record straight and demonstrate how ASH/YouGov go about their business.