TOBACCO 

POINT OF SALE

Have you ever noticed a lot of ads for tobacco products in retail environments like convenience stores? The tobacco industry knows they can directly market to teens by advertising and promoting their products in these stores.

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Tobacco Point of Sale

What is tobacco point of sale?

Have you ever noticed a lot of ads for tobacco products in retail environments like convenience stores? That’s because the tobacco industry knows they can directly market to teens by advertising and promoting their products in these stores. This includes advertisements for cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes, both inside and outside of the retail property. Even though Big Tobacco is no longer allowed to advertise on television, radio and billboards, their ads in stores are not regulated enough.

Why is this important and how does this affect you?

Research shows that tobacco marketing increases tobacco use among teens, and makes it difficult for current users to quit.

This is why Point of Sale strategies have been created to help state and local tobacco control efforts all across the United States. However, Pennsylvania has few current strategies in place to limit the number of tobacco advertisements in local retail stores.

These strategies include targeting tobacco sales in the retail environment through licensing, regulatory, and legislative approaches, such as restricting where tobacco products can be sold and who can sell them.

How can we take action together?

The American Lung Association of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Alliance to Control Tobacco (PACT) and the Tobacco Resistance Unit (TRU) partnered to implement a Point of Sale pilot in the city of Scranton. TRU youth from Dunmore High School were trained and were able to assess 81 tobacco retail establishments within the city.

The data they collected was evaluated and compiled into an assessment report; some of the notable findings include:

  • Less than one sixth of retailers display a graphic health warning sign or Quitline sign
  • Retailers directly target youth by locating tobacco ads near toys, candy, gum and by advertising at the child’s eye level
  • Cigarillos were marketed towards youth through lower price points and candy-like flavors.

Community outreach and advocacy efforts are still in the works!

Join us today

To learn more or to get involved, contact your TRU Advisor or your TRU Coordinator.

Recommendations

TRU recommends tobacco control policies that will limit the number of tobacco retailers within 1,000 feet of schools and require the posting of PA Free Quitline information in retail stores.

Call to Action

  1. Get involved in a Point of Sale project
  2. Share the below Point of Sale resources with TRU members and on social media.
  3. Let’s stop targeting kids!

Statistics

  • The U.S. Surgeon General concluded that tobacco advertising and promotions directly cause both the initiation and progression of tobacco use among youth. [i]
  • A study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that retail cigarette advertising increased the likelihood that youth would start smoking. [ii]
  • A 2009 study in Tobacco Control found that among teens who visited a store with point of sale tobacco ads at least twice a week, the odds of initiating smoking more than doubled. [iii]
  • Additionally, there is strong evidence of disproportionate tobacco marketing in low-income, minority communities. [iv]

 

Foot Notes

[i] Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults – A Report of the Surgeon General
Executive Summary 2012.
Available https://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/preventing-youth-tobacco-use/exec-summary.pdf

[ii] Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, April 2018.
Available https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/factsheets/0008.pdf

[iii] Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, April 2018.  Tobacco Marketing That Reaches Kids:
Point-Of-Sale Advertising and Promotions
Available https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/factsheets/0075.pdf

[iv] Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, March 2018.  Tobacco Company Marketing to African Americans.
Available https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/factsheets/0208.pdf