Why banning smoking for life could backfire badly |
The British government wants to create a smoke-free generation by banning cigarette sales to anyone born after 2008.
On paper, it is a bold and logical step – if people can never legally buy cigarettes, fewer people will smoke.
But human behaviour is rarely that simple, especially when it comes to young people.
There’s a well-established idea in behavioural science known as scarcity theory – when something becomes harder to access, it often becomes more desirable.
Research at Bond University, and many others across the world, has consistently shown it’s part of the reason limited-edition products sell out and why exclusivity drives demand.
When applied to smoking, a lifetime ban for a specific generation risks turning cigarettes into a kind of “forbidden product”, something that carries symbolic value precisely because it is off-limits.
For adolescents and young adults, that symbolic value........