World No Tobacco Day (31 May) provides an opportunity for nations and the global community to focus attention on the immense yet completely preventable harm caused by tobacco products, and to commit to specific actions that can better address this devastating epidemic.

The 2013 theme for World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS). Allowing these deadly products to be advertised and promoted in diverse settings and through a variety of channels clearly undermines our health promotion messages that these products are harmful and should not be used. This contradiction also hands doubt to anyone looking for it: tobacco products really can't be all that bad.

In many countries, the point-of-sale (POS) is an important venue where advertising and promotion take place. In this issue of the journal, Scheffels and Lavik assess retailers’ compliance and consumers’ perceptions of Norway's recent ban on the display of tobacco at the POS.1 They find, as others have previously, that there is very high retailer compliance with a total display ban. Although more studies are needed …