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Re: Blasting away at POS displays

Dear Editors

This is another interesting and useful contribution from Richard Pollay. It reinforces my arguments made in a 2000 article in Tobacco Control, that detailed legislation is required to specifically prohibit POS displays and any industry visual and aural trickery associated with tobacco product sales.

Ten years ago when we eliminated advertising at POS in Tasmania (Australia), we were warned that the industry would counter with extravagant and creative displays of tobacco products. We attempted to pre-empt this but the industry were very clever and imaginative and found ways of increasing their displays, so the legislation was amended. We even managed to ban tobacco product colour coding in shops. Legislation to ban POS displays is essential to eliminate the last bastions of tobacco advertising. Several countries and some states have achieved this successfully (Iceland, Thailand, and many areas of Canada).

The tobacco industry fights these proposals with the same ferocity and legal challenges that they attach to SHS restrictions. Industry undertakes the back door lobbying of politicians, the funding of front organisations representing tobacco retailers which lobby against these changes and which make the same spurious arguments and lies that they make against pub and club restrictions i.e. small businesses will all go broke!

Australian states have gradually reduced the size of displays. However, the last vestiges remain at around 1 square metre. The power walls have gone in most places, and the tricky marketing bits such as flags, cartons, counter displays, revolving displays, give-aways, gifts, special lighting, have mostly been prohibited. This battle goes on in Tasmania.

One regulatory technique that has partially worked in Tasmania, and which has led to a major supermarket chain (Coles) putting its products under the counter, has been to require gruesome graphic warnings, based on the pack warnings, at POS.

Ultimately all POS advertising, which includes display of products, must be eliminated. It is clear that these are aimed at young people.

We should also not forget the effects of POS displays on recent quitters. A poignant letter to a local newspaper from Ina McBride, a lung cancer survivor, highlights the harrowing effects of being forced to look at these displays every time one goes into a shop.

Kathryn Barnsley

PhD student at the Menzies Research Institute, and School of Government, University of Tasmania. No other affiliations. barnsley@utas.edu.au

References

MURRAY LAUGESEN;, MICHELLE SCOLLO, DAVID SWEANOR;, SAUL SHIFFMAN, JOE GITCHELL;, KATHY BARNSLEY, MARK JACOBS;, GARY A GIOVINO;, STANTON A GLANTZ;, RICHARD A DAYNARD;, GREGORY N CONNOLLY;, and JOSEPH R DIFRANZA World's best practice in tobacco control Tob. Control, Jun 2000; 9: 228 - 236.

AD WATCH:T Harper Why the tobacco industry fears point of sale display bans Tob. Control, Jun 2006; 15: 270 - 271.

Discussion paper “Strengthening measures to protect children from tobacco” http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/agency/pro/tobacco/documents/DISCUSSION_PAPER.PDF Accessed July 26 2007

Note graphic warning that must be displayed – page 12 of these guidelines http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/agency/pro/tobacco/documents/GuidelinesPriceTicketsandOtherMatters2006.pdf accessed 26 July 2007.

M Wakefield, C Morley, J K Horan, and K M Cummings The cigarette pack as image: new evidence from tobacco industry documents Tob. Control, Mar 2002; 11: 73 - 80.