In July 2012, The Guardian reported that ALEC had taken action to oppose plain cigarette packaging laws outside the United States, including the UK and Australia. Karla Jones, a task force director for ALEC, said that the brands were the corporations' most valuable assets. ALEC stated that generic cigarette packaging increased cigarette consumption, rather than reduced it. ALEC's advocacy against "plain packaging" of tobacco products was cited as partial motivation for an academic study on the effectiveness of plain packaging, which found that "plain packaging can reduce positive perceptions of smoking and dissuade tobacco use."Collin N. Smith, John D. Kraemer, Andrea C. Johnson & Darren Mays, Plain packaging of cigarettes: do we have sufficient evidence? , Risk Management and Healthcare Policy 2015, 8: 21–30. doi:10.2147/RMHP.S63042.
