If you don't smoke, chances are that you don’t notice much and assume that’s because there isn’t much out there.  Look again...  

This is a typical tobacco “power wall” located behind the checkout counters at convenience and gas stores like Stewart’s Shops, Mobil On-the-Run, and Hess, and grocery and retail stores.  It is no accident that it occupies the one space in the store  - at the checkout counters where everyone sees them, no matter what they are buying or how old they are.   

Tobacco companies spend millions of dollars in these point-of-sale displays.  “Power Wall” displays, interior and exterior advertising, and discount promotions are common methods of building brand recognition and loyalty, attracting kids’ attention, and undermining smokers’ motivations to quit.

Preventing the next generation of smokers is at the heart of the statewide ”Point of Sale” (POS) campaign.  More than 85% of smokers start before the age of 18 (the average is 14). At current smoking rates, more children alive today will eventually die from smoking related illness than from alcohol, illegal drugs, AIDS, car accidents, murder and suicide combined. How can we change this sad, startling statistic?  Bold action is needed.

Here are the policy changes advocated for by NYS Tobacco Control Program (TCP) and its Community Partners:

Require tobacco to be kept out of sight in all retail stores open to children.  When it comes to kids and tobacco “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” is the best policy. 

Prohibit the sale of tobacco in pharmacies or stores containing a pharmacy.  Pharmacies are part of the healthcare system.  It is a conflict of interest and a breach of medical ethics (“first do no harm”) for pharmacies to sell a  product that kills over 400,000 annually and causes serious illness in millions of users.

Freeze the number of licenses issued to sell tobacco and gradually reduce this number though a legal system of attrition.

The less visible and accessible tobacco products become, the stronger the perception that tobacco is not a product normally used or needed in everyday life.

Reducing the number of stores that sell tobacco makes prevention and cessation efforts more effective by decreasing social acceptability and changing the norm. NYS Community Partnerships are working with pharmacies and grocery stores to stop selling tobacco products.

Research shows that kids notice and remember tobacco advertising more than twice that of adults, and are influenced much more by tobacco marketing and promotion.

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