News and Events
Tobacco Enters Our Community in the Retail Environment, Where it is Visible and Cheap
September 4, 2018
The tobacco industry spends the vast majority of their marketing money in the retail environment – over $1 million/hour to promote their products, in which, most of their marketing efforts are aimed directly to our kids.
Essentially, the tobacco industry is buying shelf space to keep tobacco visible and offering price discounts to keep tobacco cheap. These companies are no fool, what they are really “buying” is youth who initiate - adults who can’t quit!
In efforts to combat these marketing tactics, the Tobacco Free Partnership of Highlands County has been elbow deep in the retail realm of the tobacco industry for the past few years. During the 2016 – 2017 fiscal year, adult TFP members, along with the help of Highlands County SWAT Youth, conducted over 100 point of sale (POS) store audits, nearly every licensed tobacco retailer in Highlands County.
The retail point of sale is comprised of three main categories: (a) point-of-sale advertisements, (b) price discounts (c) coupons. This was a very comprehensive and lengthy process as the store audit assessment form was 11 pages long and contained 27 questions. However, this first phase of retail assessment was an eye-opening experience for all involved and brought much to our attention locally:
- 100% of tobacco retailers sell flavored cigarillos, 80% sell cigarillos in single packs, and 69% of retailers offered price promotions on cigarillos.
- Furthermore, 23% of tobacco retailers in Highlands County offered price promotions on non-menthol and menthol cigarettes; 7% offered price promotions for smokeless tobacco; 17% offered price promotions for e-cigarettes.
- 48.8% of stores that sold e-cigarettes placed them within 12 inches of toys, candy or gum. (11.5% cigarettes, 27.6% cigarillos, 1.8% smokeless)
- Only 59.5% of stores surveyed had an exterior age of sale sign in place
- 72% of stores displayed a We Card sign
- NONE of the retailers in Highlands County are located within 300 feet of schools or parks. However, 9% are within 1000 feet and 50% are within ½ mile of schools or parks.
During the 2017 – 2018 fiscal year, SWAT Youth and TFP members were faced with a new task, assess all local Tobacco Assurances of Voluntary Compliance (AVC) retailers. AVC is a legal agreement between a tobacco retailer and one or more states. Under these agreements, tobacco retailers can voluntarily enact tobacco advertising and/or sales restrictions.
The metrics under which these retailer locations were monitored included – tobacco product placement, pricing promotions, availability of tobacco ‘lookalike’ products, and tobacco advertisements that are limited to brand name, logo, other trademarks, and price.
All stores surveyed had at least one infraction, most with numerous, and this phase pointed out several areas of concern as well:
- The most common violation was when a retailer did not limit tobacco advertising to brand name, logo/trademarks, and price. For instance, many violations came down to just one additional word added before or after the brand/logo, such as saying Pleasure after the Newport logo.
- In addition, it was surprising to note how many retailers did not have a we card sign at the entrance or on their tobacco wall.
- The store with the most infractions was Circle K, in fact, this store had the most out of ALL of the stores surveyed. There were lighters within reach and accessible by anyone taller than the counter. It had tobacco lookalike products (beef jerky in a can), free samples of cigars were offered and advertised, a Marlboro add was next to the candy and a teddy bear. There were many words added such as special price, Turkish Blends etc,. In addition, there was also a Marlboro add that exceeded 14 square feet. There were no we card signs and no age of sale reminders.
- Overall, one of the Walgreens surveyed had the littlest infractions of them all, which was due to the word Pleasure after the Newport Logo. In general, Walgreens stores overall had less infractions than the other stores.
As you can see, the retail point of sale is a big issue here in our local community. The data obtained through the AVC monitoring provided insight into the effectiveness of voluntary agreements in the tobacco retail environment. Some of the most notable findings included areas for improvement with existing federal, local, and state tobacco regulations.
The Tobacco Free Partnership of Highlands County has created a POS task force – a team of individuals with a passion for improving the health of Highlands County residents, particularly our youth, who will help further analyze this data and determine how to create lasting change.
For more information on tobacco marketing at the retail point-of-sale, what you can do to help, or to join our email list, please contact Amanda John, Facilitator of the Tobacco Free Partnership of Highlands County - www.TFP-Highlands.org
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References
- Federal Trade Commission Cigarette and Smokeless Reports, 2012
- Data from Highlands County Point of Sale Store Audit Assessments
- Data collected from Highlands AVC Store Audit Assessments
