Surgeon General’s report stresses need to protect children from in-store tobacco marketing
NORWICH – Local anti-tobacco advocates say that the Surgeon General’s Report on teen smoking today highlights a problem they’ve been talking about for some time: tobacco marketing targeting kids in convenience stores, pharmacies and other retail locations where tobacco is sold.
The report, titled Preventing Tobacco Use among Youth and Young Adults finds the nation is falling far short of our national youth smoking goals and calls for immediate and urgent action to protect children from the predatory marketing tactics of the tobacco industry.
“One way to reduce kids’ exposure to tobacco marketing is to prohibit the display of tobacco products in all retail establishments to which minors have access,” said James Mutabiilwa, Tobacco Free Chenango Coordinator at Chenango Health Network. “Abundant research, summarized in this latest report, shows that kids regularly exposed to retail tobacco displays are more likely to smoke.”
The tobacco industry lures kids to use and get addicted to cigarettes through the use of prominent cigarette product displays, sometimes referred to as “power walls” behind the cash register in retail environments. In New York, over 80% of retailers that sell tobacco devote 50% or more of the merchandising space behind the checkout counters to tobacco displays. The amount of space that tobacco products take up in the stores that kids go into is astonishing – an average of 32 square feet in licensed tobacco retailers, and even more - 50 to 60 square feet in NYS pharmacies and other mass merchandisers. When children see such extensive tobacco product displays it distorts their perceptions regarding the availability of cigarettes and increases the likelihood that they will start smoking.
“When I go into a convenience store, I feel like I have a target on my back,” said Megan Rogers, a senior at Sherburne Earlville School. “In-store tobacco ads are placed at kid eye level, often near toys, candy and snacks. Tobacco companies see me, and even kids younger than me, as their next generation of smokers.”
Key findings/recommendations of the report include:
• The tobacco industry has stated that its marketing only promotes brand choices among adult smokers. Regardless of intent, this marketing encourages underage youth to smoke. Nearly 9 out of 10 smokers start smoking by age 18, and more than 80% of underage smokers choose brands from among the top three most heavily advertised.
• The more young people are exposed to cigarette advertising and promotional activities, the more likely they are to smoke.
• The report finds that extensive use of price-reducing promotions has led to higher rates of tobacco use among young people than would have occurred in the absence of these promotions.
• Many tobacco products on the market appeal to youth. Some cigarette-sized cigars contain candy and fruit flavoring, such as strawberry and grape.
• Many of the newest smokeless tobacco products do not require users to spit, and others dissolve like mints; these products include snus—a spitless, dry snuff packaged in a small teabag-like sachet—and dissolvable strips and lozenges. Young people find these products appealing in part because they can be used without detection at school or other places where smoking is banned. However, these products cause and sustain nicotine addiction, and most youth who use them also smoke cigarettes.
• Through the use of advertising and promotional activities, packaging, and product design, the tobacco industry encourages the myth that smoking makes you thin. This message is especially appealing to young girls. It is not true – ateen smokers are not thinner than nonsmokers.
According to the American Cancer Society, communities can reduce youth exposure to tobacco advertising in stores by banning the display of tobacco products and by restricting the number and location of licensed tobacco retailers.
Over the last decade, New York has made impressive progress in its efforts to reduce youth smoking. In 2010, 12.6 percent of high school students smoked compared to 2000 when 27.1 percent were smokers – a reduction of more than half.
Although progress has been made in NYS to reduce youth smoking there is a tremendous amount of work to be done to continue to protect children. According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, there are 22,500 NYS children under 18 who become new daily smokers each year and there are 31.6 million packs of cigarettes bought or smoked by NYS children each year.
Nearly 90% of regular smokers start smoking before the age of 18. While several factors contribute to youth smoking, tobacco marketing and promotion in the retail environment is one of the most significant. Research in the U.S. and abroad demonstrates that exposure to in-store tobacco promotions is a primary cause of youth smoking and big tobacco knows it – tobacco companies spend over 90% of their annual marketing dollars in the retail environment. Overall, tobacco companies spend nearly twice as much on marketing ($10.49 billion annually) than junk food, soda and alcoholic beverage manufactures combined (5.28 billion annually).
Tobacco use continues to be the leading cause of preventable death in New York State and costs the state $8.17 billion annually in health care costs, including $3.3 billion in annual Medicaid costs.
The Surgeon General’s report is available at www.surgeongeneral.gov.
For more information, contact: James Mutabiilwa at Chenango Health Network, 337-4128 or email james@chenangohealth.org.
For more information on how to quit smoking, call the NYS Smokers’ Quitline at 1-866-NY-QUITS (1-866-697-8487).
The report, titled Preventing Tobacco Use among Youth and Young Adults finds the nation is falling far short of our national youth smoking goals and calls for immediate and urgent action to protect children from the predatory marketing tactics of the tobacco industry.
“One way to reduce kids’ exposure to tobacco marketing is to prohibit the display of tobacco products in all retail establishments to which minors have access,” said James Mutabiilwa, Tobacco Free Chenango Coordinator at Chenango Health Network. “Abundant research, summarized in this latest report, shows that kids regularly exposed to retail tobacco displays are more likely to smoke.”
The tobacco industry lures kids to use and get addicted to cigarettes through the use of prominent cigarette product displays, sometimes referred to as “power walls” behind the cash register in retail environments. In New York, over 80% of retailers that sell tobacco devote 50% or more of the merchandising space behind the checkout counters to tobacco displays. The amount of space that tobacco products take up in the stores that kids go into is astonishing – an average of 32 square feet in licensed tobacco retailers, and even more - 50 to 60 square feet in NYS pharmacies and other mass merchandisers. When children see such extensive tobacco product displays it distorts their perceptions regarding the availability of cigarettes and increases the likelihood that they will start smoking.
“When I go into a convenience store, I feel like I have a target on my back,” said Megan Rogers, a senior at Sherburne Earlville School. “In-store tobacco ads are placed at kid eye level, often near toys, candy and snacks. Tobacco companies see me, and even kids younger than me, as their next generation of smokers.”
Key findings/recommendations of the report include:
• The tobacco industry has stated that its marketing only promotes brand choices among adult smokers. Regardless of intent, this marketing encourages underage youth to smoke. Nearly 9 out of 10 smokers start smoking by age 18, and more than 80% of underage smokers choose brands from among the top three most heavily advertised.
• The more young people are exposed to cigarette advertising and promotional activities, the more likely they are to smoke.
• The report finds that extensive use of price-reducing promotions has led to higher rates of tobacco use among young people than would have occurred in the absence of these promotions.
• Many tobacco products on the market appeal to youth. Some cigarette-sized cigars contain candy and fruit flavoring, such as strawberry and grape.
• Many of the newest smokeless tobacco products do not require users to spit, and others dissolve like mints; these products include snus—a spitless, dry snuff packaged in a small teabag-like sachet—and dissolvable strips and lozenges. Young people find these products appealing in part because they can be used without detection at school or other places where smoking is banned. However, these products cause and sustain nicotine addiction, and most youth who use them also smoke cigarettes.
• Through the use of advertising and promotional activities, packaging, and product design, the tobacco industry encourages the myth that smoking makes you thin. This message is especially appealing to young girls. It is not true – ateen smokers are not thinner than nonsmokers.
According to the American Cancer Society, communities can reduce youth exposure to tobacco advertising in stores by banning the display of tobacco products and by restricting the number and location of licensed tobacco retailers.
Over the last decade, New York has made impressive progress in its efforts to reduce youth smoking. In 2010, 12.6 percent of high school students smoked compared to 2000 when 27.1 percent were smokers – a reduction of more than half.
Although progress has been made in NYS to reduce youth smoking there is a tremendous amount of work to be done to continue to protect children. According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, there are 22,500 NYS children under 18 who become new daily smokers each year and there are 31.6 million packs of cigarettes bought or smoked by NYS children each year.
Nearly 90% of regular smokers start smoking before the age of 18. While several factors contribute to youth smoking, tobacco marketing and promotion in the retail environment is one of the most significant. Research in the U.S. and abroad demonstrates that exposure to in-store tobacco promotions is a primary cause of youth smoking and big tobacco knows it – tobacco companies spend over 90% of their annual marketing dollars in the retail environment. Overall, tobacco companies spend nearly twice as much on marketing ($10.49 billion annually) than junk food, soda and alcoholic beverage manufactures combined (5.28 billion annually).
Tobacco use continues to be the leading cause of preventable death in New York State and costs the state $8.17 billion annually in health care costs, including $3.3 billion in annual Medicaid costs.
The Surgeon General’s report is available at www.surgeongeneral.gov.
For more information, contact: James Mutabiilwa at Chenango Health Network, 337-4128 or email james@chenangohealth.org.
For more information on how to quit smoking, call the NYS Smokers’ Quitline at 1-866-NY-QUITS (1-866-697-8487).
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