British MPs have voted to introduce plain packaging to all cigarettes sold in the UK by 2016, in an attempt to cut down on font addiction.
"It's a growing problem," said one typographer. "Thanks to the internet, it's easier than ever for kids to get access to any font they want, and frankly it's giving them an unrealistic idea of how text should look."
It's thought that cigarettes have been causing font addiction ever since canny advertisers introduced Helvetica to packaging in the 1960s. Soon, big brands were all vying to have the sexiest typeface, with fonts such as Calibri, Impact and Rockwell Extra Bold lapped up by millions of young people worldwide.
But the issue came to a head in the 90s, when a lack of regulation over printing technology caused an explosion in font usage. Historians calculate that on average, every notice pinned up in every school library in the year 1997 contained 6 fonts, at least one of which was Comic Sans.
But lawmakers say that removing fonts from the place teenagers are most likely to see them - cigarette packets - will stem the problem once and for all.
"When I was a kid all we had was Times New Roman, and we were happy with it," said one judge.
When asked if removing other fonts from cigarette packaging was restricting of freedom of choice he responded: "Of course not. We're simply helping vulnerable young people to make better choices. I don't know why they're complaining. It's not as we've made cigarettes any healthier."
