Creative Destruction: Branding to be "banned" in the UK

Branding and associated packaging, advertising, point of sale literature etc is wasteful and to some extent impossible to police.

The UK government have recently expanded the powers of the Office of Fair Trading to include "the internet". How can they possibly do this in an era of cutting costs?

The only way forward is to ban branding and related advertising.

The branding ban is to start with cigarettes. Cigarettes will in future be plain, no adverts, no logos and no graphics. Further announcements are to be made on Wednesday on "National Non Smoking day".  Possibly this will extend to alcohol and other "harmful goods".