in store cigarette display

September 23, 2009 11:50 AM

Does anyone have a link to research linking in-store tobacco counter advertising and teenage smoking habits?

I know that some Canadian provinces have tried banning the display of cigarettes in shops, and so have Tasmania and Canada I think. Similair legislation is planned for Scotland but the big tobacco lobby are fighting it and attempting to discredit these studies I've mentioned.

posted by cameronfromedinburgh to Health & Fitness (2 answers total)

Here's one from 2004. Abstract:

A survey of 2125 middle-school students in central California examined adolescents’ exposure to tobacco marketing in stores and its association with self-reported smoking. Two thirds of sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students reported at least weekly visits to small grocery, convenience, or liquor stores. Such visits were associated with a 50% increase in the odds of ever smoking, even after control for social influences to smoke.

(From a Google Scholar search for words you used in your question: store tobacco counter advertising teenage smoking. Of course, that search is likely to turn up additional similar studies, but I haven't checked.)
posted by Jaltcoh at 11:57 AM on September 23, 2009

Tobacco counter advertising is known as a powerwall.

Take a look at Keeping the Point-of-Sale Environment at the Forefront in the American Journal of Public Health or anything written by Joanna Cohen, a professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto and Principal Investigator with the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit.

The influence of Tobacco Powerwall Advertising on Children [video]

Here are some references I got from a powerwall fact sheet

Tobacco Promotion at Point of Purchase, Including Product Displays, Should Be Banned, Canadian Cancer Society, August 2005

Restrictions on the Retail Display of Tobacco Products, Policy Analysis, Tilson Consulting, August 2004

The Point-of-Purchase Advertising Industry Fact Book, Point of Purchase Advertising Institute, 1992

The Influence of Tobacco Powerwall Advertising on Children, J. Gottheil Marketing Communications Inc., March 2005

Cigarette advertising and promotional strategies in retail outlets, Feighery, Ellen et.al, 2001

posted by furtive at 2:45 PM on September 23, 2009