Tobacco News and Interesting Information

Font Size: Decrease Increase Print Page: Print By Tamara McLean | November 22, 2007

DISPLAYS of cigarette packs behind shop counters do tempt would-be quitters back to smoking, according to new research that claims to blow the lid off a tobacco industry myth.

The world-first study led by Australian researchers found more than a third of smokers who were trying to quit or cut down were tempted to buy cigarettes as a direct result of seeing them on display.

And 60 per cent of these gave in to the urge, forking out at least once even though they had never intended to buy any.

The research, to be published next week in the international journal Addiction, also proves that recent quitters are lured back into the habit by the large glossy pack displays.

The findings have prompted health groups to call on governments to make removing cigarette pack displays from sight in the retail environment an urgent public health priority.

Led by Professor Melanie Wakefield of the Cancer Council Victoria, the study aimed to assess the extent to which cigarette pack displays in retail stores stimulate impulse purchases of cigarettes.

The telephone survey involved 526 adults who smoked factory-made cigarettes and 67 recent quitters.

Prof Wakefield said the tobacco industry's increasing reliance on cigarette pack displays was a marketing ploy to create maximum stand-out of cigarette packs.

"The importance to the tobacco industry of cigarette pack displays in the retail environment has gained in recent years, as traditional electronic, billboard and print forms of tobacco marketing are restricted,'' she said.

"Far from being a benign marketing practice, our study illustrates that cigarette pack displays in retail stores do trigger impulse buying of cigarettes among smokers, even those who are trying to quit, every time they visit a store.''

She said the tobacco industry marketing tactic of creating colour-coordinated power walls of cigarettes at the point-of-sale may also tempt recent quitters to relapse.

"More than half of long-term smokers will die of a smoking caused-disease, so in light of these findings we urge all jurisdictions to develop legislation to remove tobacco displays from sight in retail stores.''

Quit executive director Fiona Sharkie supported the call, saying it would ease the regulatory burden for tobacco retailers, as the current legislation is "incredibly complicated''.

"Removing cigarette displays from point-of-sale is not about making life hard for retailers, in fact it will simplify the regulatory process,'' Ms Sharkie said.