of the kind illustrated. As Slade has noted: "As advertising restrictions loom or become a reality, the surfaces of the pack itself remain available for communication to customers and potential customers. The increased interest these companies are showing in novel pack designs and in novel brands is likely to be a way of exploring how to market cigarettes in a limited advertising environment. The adaption of advertising to the pack itself in this manner is but another reason that a requirement for plain packaging is sound public policy." 14 The industry acknowledges the importance of the package as an advertising vehicle. In response to the new warning proposals, the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers' Council (CTMC) complained "the package is at present one of the only remaining means manufacturers have of communicating with their customers." 12 However, the communication now is dishonest. The CTMC complains that the warnings "currently proposed so reduce the size and presentation of the brand elements on the packages as to render them virtually inert." 12 No one has ever said that if the truth were told about this product that brand elements would continue to retain the same impact. The warnings being considered would take Canada a giant step toward plain packaging. At a minimum, they would denormalise the industry's sophisticated packaging. Equally important, the fact that the government would require the product to be sold with such messages, thereby separating this product from other legitimate products in the marketplace, could be the most important warning message