Canada: London Health Unit Clamps down on Convenience Store Cigarette Marketing Campaign  

Source from:  Metro (ca)  05/24/2013

The Middlesex-London Health Unit is throwing the book at local convenience store operators supporting an in-store marketing campaign that goes against the Smoke-Free Ontario Act.

The campaign's focal point is a petition, displayed on an electronic tablet, that urges customers to tell Kathleen Wynne how contraband is hurting the retail industry.

The health unit doesn't have a problem with the anti-contraband cigarette movement. The issue is the campaign's optics, said Linda Stobo, the health unit's manager of chronic disease prevention and tobacco control.

Materials used in the campaign violate the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, which prohibits displays that promote cigarette use or show people smoking, she said.

"Research has shown any kind of promotion actually increases impulse buying," she said, explaining the rationale. "It promotes the availability of tobacco to young people. For those who are quitting smoking, it makes it much harder to resist the urge to buy tobacco."

The contraband tobacco campaign includes messaging that encourages people to steer clear of contraband tobacco and buy cigarettes at retailers.

The health unit's recent weeklong clamp down included "educational visits" to several convenience stores.

It proved successful, Stobo said, with nearly all operators agreeing to remove the marketing material from displays.

An Ontario Convenience Stores Association push to rid the province of contraband cigarettes was rolled out May 13 in London and Windsor. Enditem