7 July 2009
ASH Scotland Chief Executive, Sheila Duffy today [Tuesday 7 July] launched a radical new approach to gaining support for the removal of cigarette promotional displays by calling on people to write directly to their local shops letting them know they support the measure. Speaking on the day the campaign went live on the ASH Scotland website, Ms Duffy said:
“The Tobacco and Primary Medical Services Bill aims to prevent children from smoking by stopping the visibility and availability of cigarettes to young people including removing cigarette displays at the point of sale. It can be a strong bill that deserves the support of everyone who wants to see Scotland’s teenage smoking rates reduce.
“Inevitably however, the tobacco industry will continue to challenge the measures outlined in the bill and do all it can to delay, dilute and damage the legislation. By employing scaremongering and misinformation tactics they have made retailers afraid of this law rather than embracing it as an opportunity to remove a lethal product from display. We are talking about a product that attracts young people, gets them easily addicted, and causes massive damage to their health and the health of those around them.
“So ASH Scotland is taking a new approach to gaining support and countering the tobacco industry. We will continue to press our case with MSPs but we want to take our message direct to shopkeepers and counter the misinformation from the tobacco industry through our Pride of Place? campaign.
“It’s natural that many retailers are uneasy about changes to the way that they display their products for sale but we want them to look at this as a great opportunity to prepare for a much healthier future, especially with smoking rates in decline. The measures will not stop retailers selling cigarettes to adult smokers and it won’t affect footfall as existing tobacco displays aren’t visible from outside the shop. Importantly, the space that tobacco currently occupies will be freed up to promote and sell other products rather than one that causes such harm.
“Last week in Ireland, similar measures were introduced and the tobacco industry there has responded by providing free storage machines to the vast majority of shops to ensure retailers comply with the law and continue to stock their cigarettes. It is working there and it can work here.
“Shopkeepers need to know that the public support the removal of cigarette promotional displays because it will stop the marketing of tobacco to children and young people. We put money into educating children not to smoke, yet we allow the tobacco industry to grab pride of place in our shops to advertise its lethal product to new recruits.
“By joining our Pride of Place? campaign, we are urging people to write to the shops they use on a regular basis from the local shops where they live and work, to the garage where they get their petrol, to the large supermarket they get their weekly shop, to let them know they welcome this policy, and why. We are especially encouraging those who work in the health service and see the damage caused by smoking every day, and parents who want to protect their children from starting to smoke to get involved in our campaign.
“Figures from YouGov show that public opinion in Scotland supports the Tobacco Bill’s measures. Removing promotional displays of tobacco received 57% support with 21% opposing (3). It is clear that the public would like to see tobacco companies stopped from promoting their lethal products to young people.
“We must never forget the 13,500 deaths in Scotland every year due to smoking, the thousands who are affected by disease and ill health, and the 15,000 young Scots who start smoking every year. If we all work together, and make our voices heard, we can cut the pipeline of new young smokers to the tobacco industry.
“For 45 years, tobacco manufacturers have fought legislation to restrict them. They are big and they are well funded. However, many individual voices can counter them. They are in the business of promoting, marketing and selling a lethal highly addictive product to gain profit. We are in the business of protecting and preventing our future generations from smoking and stopping thousands of needless and preventable deaths.”
Sheila Duffy is available for further comment or interviews via ISDN. For further information please contact Jeanette Campbell on 0131 220 9466.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
1. ASH Scotland is an independent Scottish charity working in partnership to protect people from the harm caused by tobacco. Registered Scottish charity number SC 010412.
2. The Pride of Place? campaign can be accessed at: Pride of Place? - Campaign homepage
3. All figures are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1,157 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 25th – 27th March 2009. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all Scottish adults (aged 18+). Respondents were asked to state their support or opposition to the following measures.
i) Requiring businesses to have a valid licence to sell tobacco which can be removed if they are caught selling to underage smokers
Strongly support: 59% Tend to support: 30% Neither support nor oppose: 6%
Strongly oppose: 1% Tend to oppose: 3% Don’t know: 1%
ii) Suspending the right to sell tobacco for businesses found to have sold or supplied tobacco to under-18s more than once
Strongly support: 55% Tend to support: 31% Neither support nor oppose: 8%
Strongly oppose: 2% Tend to oppose: 3% Don’t know: 1%
iii) Banning the display of tobacco products in the places where they are sold
Strongly support: 34% Tend to support: 23% Neither support nor oppose: 21%
Strongly oppose: 10% Tend to oppose: 11% Don’t know: 2%
iv) Ban the sale of cigarettes from vending machines
Strongly support: 38% Tend to support: 18% Neither support nor oppose: 20%
Strongly oppose: 8% Tend to oppose: 14% Don’t know: 2%