Some people are never happy.
When I mentioned yesterday that ASH had called for a ban on non-menthol cigarette brand names that are similar to prohibited menthol brand names, I forgot to mention two previous complaints by those perennial party poopers.
In January, when Imperial launched its Rizla Flavour Infusion cards that can be inserted in packs of ‘ordinary’ cigarettes to give them a menthol flavour, ASH CEO Deborah Arnott cried foul, complaining:
“We believe this breaks not just the spirit but the letter of the law and we’ve informed the Department of Health so they can stop it happening.”
(I love that word ‘informed’. So 2020.)
I don’t know if ASH took legal advice but if they did they wasted their money because Rizla Flavour Infusion cards are still on sale so I guess even the Department of Health had to tell Deborah that, regretfully, there was absolutely nothing they could do.
The following month (February) it was JTI’s turn to launch a new product, a mentholated cigarillo. This too was completely legal and, guess what? ASH didn’t like it.
Since the turn of the year these ghastly po-faced puritans have tried to stop the sale of flavoured infusion cards, put the government on alert that the menthol ban should be extended to cigarillos, and called for a ban on non-menthol brand names that sound similar to prohibited menthol brand names.
During that same period the world has been fighting the most serious pandemic for a century. A large proportion of the workforce has been furloughed, thousands of businesses could go under and millions may lose their jobs.
But don’t worry. Remove the merest hint of menthol from every cigarette and cigarillo in the country (by law!) and all will be well.