Tobacco point-of-purchase promotion: examining tobacco industry documents

Abstract

In the face of increasing media restrictions around the world, point-of-purchase promotion (also called point-of-sale merchandising, and frequently abbreviated as POP or POS) is now one of the most important tools that tobacco companies have for promoting tobacco products. Using tobacco industry documents, this paper demonstrates that tobacco companies have used point-of-purchase promotion in response to real or anticipated advertising restrictions. Their goal was to secure dominance in the retail setting, and this was achieved through well-trained sales representatives who offered contracts for promotional incentive programmes to retailers, which included the use of point-of-sale displays and merchandising fixtures. Audit programmes played an important role in ensuring contract enforcement and compliance with a variety of tobacco company incentive programmes. Tobacco companies celebrated their merchandising successes, in recognition of the stiff competition that existed among tobacco companies for valuable retail display space.

Exposure to point‐of‐sale displays and changes in susceptibility to smoking: findings from a cohort study of school students

“…There is also evidence that exposure to tobacco advertising increases susceptibility to smoking 12, and therefore potentially smoking uptake. Tobacco PoS displays placed in shops visited by children is an effective way to communicate brand imagery 15. Consistent with this observation, the prevalence of smoking tends to be higher in schools with a higher density of tobacco outlets and in‐store promotion of tobacco products in their surrounding area 16, 17.…”

Tobacco Retail Outlet Density and Young Adult Tobacco Initiation

“…Findings suggest that the density of outlets around young adults' residence may stimulate experimentation of cigarette and non-cigarette combustible tobacco products, which are increasingly prevalent and heavily promoted in outlets worldwide. 6,46,47 While the tobacco industry has traditionally focused on the retail environment to market cigarettes to young adults, 48,49 information on retail merchandising and point-of-sale advertising of other noncigarette tobacco products is limited. The strong positive association between density and recent cigarette and non-cigarette combustible product experimentation and the null association with recent noncombustible experimentation may be due either to varying availability of these products in outlets or differences in advertising at the point-of-sale.…”

Exposición a la publicidad del tabaco en los puntos de venta en Argentina. Evidencias de la Encuesta Nacional de Factores de Riesgo 2013

“…2 Ante esta restricción, las tabacaleras han aumentado la publicidad agresiva en los puntos de venta, que muchas veces están exceptuados de las prohibiciones, para poder así atraer nuevos consumidores. 3,4 Desde 2011, Argentina cuenta con una ley nacional de control de tabaco que prohíbe la publicidad, promo ción y patrocinio de los productos elaborados con tabaco en forma directa o indirecta, a través de cualquier medio de difusión o comunicación, con excepción de la que se ubica en el interior de los puntos de venta, las pu bli caciones comerciales para personas involucradas en el negocio o las comunicaciones directas a mayores de 18 años con consentimiento previo y verificación de la edad. 5 La excepción en los puntos de venta debe respetar las siguientes características: sólo se puede colocar un cartel (de hasta 30 x 30 cm, estático, no lumínico y en dos dimensiones) por cada fabricante y éste debe tener impreso uno de los mensajes sanitarios vigentes en 20% del extremo inferior de su superficie.…”