Cigarettes and Tobacco News

Nov 22, 2007 -- In-store displays of cigarette packs help keep smokers hooked, according to a new study by Australian researchers.

The study, to be published online next week in the international journal Addiction, found that those trying to quit commonly felt the urge to buy cigarettes when they saw the displays.

The study was led by Professor Melanie Wakefield of The Cancer Council in the Australian state of Victoria.

"Far from being a benign marketing practice, our study illustrates that cigarette pack displays in retail stores do trigger impulse buying of cigarettes among smokers, even those who are trying to quit," Wakefield said in a statement released on Thursday.

She said pack displays had become more important to tobacco companies in recent years as open advertising was increasingly restricted.

She said that among the study findings were that 38 percent of smokers who had tried to quit in the past 12 months, and 34 percent of recent quitters, experienced an urge to buy cigarettes when they saw a display.

Of the 38 percent, well over half actually went on and bought cigarettes.

Director of SA's National Council Against Smoking, Dr Yussuf Saloojee, said cigarette companies in SA invested heavily in point-of-sale advertising in a bid to continue to glamourise cigarettes, especially to children.

He said that in a current case before the Competition Commission, Japan Tobacco had accused British American Tobacco SA of anti-competitive behaviour including paying retailers not to openly display JT's Camel brand.

Legislation to restrict point-of-sale displays is expected to come before Parliament next year.