If it is possible to hear someone grinning over the telephone, that’s what I heard today.

The person responsible for the sound signifying sheer delight was Professor Mike Daube, president of the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA).

“I haven’t enjoyed a day as much since I discovered ice-cream,” he said in reference to the tobacco industry’s strategic blunder that is hitting the headlines today (you can read what else Daube had to say further on).

In case you’ve missed the news, tobacco companies have bankrolled a new “alliance” of retailers to run an advertising campaign attacking the federal government plan for cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging from July 2012. This world-first move, announced in April, has attracted international public health acclaim.

As the Sydney Morning Herald reported today, the new advertising blitz will argue that plain tobacco packaging will not prevent smoking but instead will hamper small businesses and cost jobs. The campaign will run under the auspices of what looks suspiciously like a front group , the newly formed Alliance of Australian Retailers, and is bankrolled by the three largest tobacco firms — British American Tobacco Australia, Philip Morris Australia and Imperial Tobacco Australia.

What were the tobacco industry strategists thinking?

Not only did they give Health Minister Nicola Roxon an opportunity to make some political mileage (especially given reports emphasising the role of former Howard government advisers in the campaign), they have put Tony Abbott under immense pressure to commit his own side to supporting plain packaging.

For once the voices in the health sector have been singing in harmony. The PHAA, the Heart Foundation, Cancer Council Australia — and even the AMA — are on the same message: that Abbott must sign up to plain packaging.

If Abbott doesn’t take a strong stand, he risks looking like a friend of Big Tobacco. These days, that is not a good look for anyone, and particularly not for politicians at this point of the electoral cycle. The public has had decades of exposes about the industry’s nefarious tactics.

Actually, this AAP story from April records that Abbott has previously committed to plain packaging. On the Nine Network, when pressed by (then) deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard  on whether he would support  the tax on cigarettes and plain packaging, Abbott conceded he would.  “Yes, Julia,” an exasperated Mr Abbott said.

Today, however,  he is only committing to “considering” plain packaging (so far as I have heard anyway.)

What were the industry strategists thinking? That it had worked for the miners, so it would work for them?