CounterTobacco.org has now received over 50,000 visitors to the site!
We want to celebrate this milestone by thanking all of our users - the practitioners who are out there working to counteract tobacco sales and marketing at the point of sale, fighting the "War in the Store," raising awareness about the problem, and making change happen.
We will be randomly selecting three new subscribers and highlighting their point of sale tobacco control work on our site later this month. AND these three subscribers will also get a sweet gift bag of CounterTobacco.org swag! Check your inboxes to see if you've been selected!
Stories from the Field
-Minneapolis Flavor Ban-
On July 10, 2015, the Minneapolis City Council followed the example of other cities such as Providence, Rhode Island; Santa Clara, CA; Chicago, IL; and New York, NY; and unanimously passed new restrictions on the sale of flavored tobacco products and set a minimum sales price for cigars. Starting on January 1, 2016, the sale of flavored tobacco products, other than menthol flavored, will be restricted to adult-only tobacco stores. This will result in a reduction in the number of retail outlets for flavored tobacco products in the city from 420 to 25 stores.
Some examples of the range of flavored products that will be restricted under this ordinance include cotton candy-flavored shisha, apple-flavored chewing tobacco, grape-flavored little cigars, and e-liquids that are sold in thousands of kid-friendly fruit and candy flavors.
This ordinance also raises the minimum price of cigars to $2.60 each or $10.40 for packs of four or more. Research has shown that higher tobacco prices decrease tobacco use, and since kids are the most price-sensitive consumers, this policy will create a strong disincentive for kids to start using tobacco products, resulting in significant long-term public health benefits. Read more here.
Stories from the Field
-Iowa Youth Engagement and Activism-
Iowa Students for Tobacco Education and Prevention (ISTEP) is a youth-led tobacco prevention movement with a network of local chapters across the state. A chapter in Audubon, IA, a small, rural community in the Southwestern part of the state, recently used CounterTobacco.org'sWalking Tobacco Auditto uncover the problem of tobacco use and tobacco advertising in their community.
During the activity, the students noticed some large outdoor advertising of low priced tobacco products at the Dollar General store, and decided they would all write letters to the Dollar General Corporation and ask them to take the sign down, citing examples of how tobacco advertising is aimed at youth and other populations. The Dollar General Corporation responded by sending a letter back to the group, and took down the sign in Audubon! These large yellow outdoor advertisements were also taken down from Dollar General stores across the state. "It was a great achievement, and the best part was that the idea came from the youth," said Robbyn Duchow, ISTEP Youth Coordinator.Read more here.
CounterTobacco.org's latest "News and Research Roundup,"a monthly summary of the latest POS research, reports, and policy news is out. Highlights:
Tobacco 21 News: More cities across the countries have passed laws raising the minimum legal sale age for tobacco products to 21, including Kansas City, MO, Kansas City, KS, Wyckoff, NJ, andCleveland, OH. Proposals are also being considered in Boston and at the state level in Massachusetts. Find a full listing of the cities and states that have passed Tobacco 21 laws on Tobacco21.org.
Research on Restricting Tobacco Advertising and Promotions:
Conducted in a replica convenience store, the study demonstrated that adolescents exposed to a more prominent and visible cigarette “power wall” in a retail setting subsequently reported higher susceptibility to future cigarette smoking compared to adolescents exposed to a tobacco display hidden by an opaque wall. Learn more about display bans as a way to restrict tobacco placement in retail settings.
This study found that secondary school students in New Zealand were more likely to be smokers when their school was located in an area with a high density of tobacco retail outlets. When tobacco retail outlet density was high, current smokers were also more likely to attempt purchasing tobacco, and non-smokers were more likely to be susceptible to smoking. This indicates a need to reduce density of tobacco retailers around schools to reduce youth smoking rates and youth smoking initiation. Learn more about licensing and zoning as strategies to limit tobacco retail outlet density.
