GRASSROOTS
NEWSLETTER
November-December
2007
Volume 6 Number 3
Dear Members and
Friends of TFMC, Two points of
interest for this letter came out of the Master Settlement Agreement (
In recent years, the tobacco
industry has focused its marketing budget on discounts to offset price
increases from tobacco taxes, along with point of purchase (
According to a 2007 study
published in the Tobacco Control Online Journal, “ More
than meets the eye: on the importance of
retail cigarette advertising,” the tobacco industry has been planning since at
least 1970 for the inevitability of tighter restrictions in response to
increasing independent scientific and health-focused research. The tobacco industry merchandiser’s goal is “intrusive visibility”. Author
Richard W. Pollay itemizes
banners,
displays, posters, easels, shelf signs, streamers, wall units, window displays
and cards, floor stands, dump bins, counter-top units, illuminated
signs, cash register tools (eg, change trays,
customer merchandise dividers, receipt coupons and message
imprints), shopping carts and baskets, end-of-aisle displays, racks,
gantries, kiosks, overhead hangers, price cards, interactive units,
aisle directories, waste baskets, mechanical product dispensers,
ashtrays, closed circuit television and radio broadcasts, electronic
scrolling ads, clocks, "hours open" signage, carpets and
floor mats, laser projections onto floors and walls, oversized
mock-ups of packets, newspaper and magazine racks, etc. New computer
and projection technologies are being employed to create displays
with interactivity, customisation of
messaging, dynamic and vivid illuminated images.
The effect of this is that every time anyone goes to the store,
that person, young or old, smoker or nonsmoker, rich or poor, is exposed to
promotion of tobacco. This typically
happens at every gas, every convenience, and every grocery store visit. This increases the perception that tobacco
use is pervasive and normal part of life, in what economists and social
scientists call the “friendly
familiarity” effect.
Because consumers use the retail presence as an
indicator of how popular products are, a substantial oversized
display conveys that many people are smokers. This is in addition to
whatever else might be conveyed regarding special offers, pricing,
brand imagery, etc. This perceived popularity effect occurs at the
brand level, as consumers discern which brands are the more popular.
It also occurs at the product level, as consumers discern the
popularity of cigarettes by their centrality and predominance in the
retail milieu.*
Here in
|
100% decrease in
number of merchants creating outdoor tobacco ads IMPROVEMENT |
|
Decrease of 10
store-made signs displayed outside IMPROVEMENT |
|
9% fewer stores
displayed pro made outside ads and other tobacco promotions IMPROVEMENT |
|
3.5 average fewer
signs on stores with outside ads; 3 average fewer
signs on all surveyed sites IMPROVEMENT |
|
33% increase in #
of stores with anti-smoking signs IMPROVEMENT |
|
31% sites still
have cigarettes available for customer self-service. New law is that all cigarette products are
to be placed behind the counter. PROBLEM |
|
15% increase in
clerk-controlled smokeless tobacco IMPROVEMENT |
|
17% increase in
clerk-controlled other tobacco products IMPROVEMENT |
|
53% increase in
cigarettes placed near candy PROBLEM |
|
43% decrease in
tobacco signs placed near candy IMPROVEMENT |
|
21% increase in
tobacco signs placed 3 feet or lower PROBLEM |
|
No significant
change in the overall number of professionally made inside tobacco ads
and promotions, but there was a 15% decrease in the total number of
tobacco advertisements in surveyed sites in Marion County Arkansas IMPROVEMENT |
Professor Pollay
summarized his article with the following recommendation for tobacco prevention
regarding tobacco industry
In April of 2007 Matthew
Meyers with The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids issued a press release
wherein he said, “The 2005 total includes $13.1 billion in
cigarette marketing and $250.8 million in smokeless tobacco marketing. …The
staggering amounts spent on tobacco marketing should be a wakeup call to
elected officials at all levels that the battle against tobacco use is far from
won. We must be as aggressive in
fighting tobacco use as the tobacco companies are in promoting their deadly and
addictive products.” http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/Script/DisplayPressRelease.php3?Display=987&zoom_highlight=marketing
TFMC members,
please speak to our local retailers and thank
those who have minimized or eliminated tobacco signage, and remind those with heavy saturation of
signs or signs and products at child’s eye height that you’d like them to quit marketing tobacco to children.