Cigarette companies spend a lot of money working out which colours draw the eye and which fonts make you smile. They create associations between the various indistinguishable products and different aspirational life styles. I can still picture the jet set lifestyle in the ads for Peter Stuyvesant, the brand that killed my grandfather, or the quiet dignity of Hallmark, the brand that it took my mother a hard year to free herself from.
An unappealing colour will only do so much, but I am glad the same sort of effort is being put into making packaging unattractive as making it appeal.
Now let's wrap cigarettes in the same coloured paper!