Large retail commercial properties such as supermarkets have only got 31 days remaining to change how they display tobacco products under the Government’s tobacco display ban. The ban will stop retailers from displaying cigarettes and tobacco products, but instead they can be kept under the counter or in a cabinet out of the sight of the public.
However, the ban only affects larger retail commercial properties measuring 3014 sq ft or more. But smaller retailers will not escape the ban, as it will become compulsory for every shop selling the products from April 2015.
Customers will still be able to see a product and price list, but it will have to meet specific size and font guidelines. Also, a shelf less than five ft long is allowed to be temporarily out in the open while a customer is being served their tobacco products.
The move has been met with both praise and criticism. Speaking for the ban, Professor Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer for England, stated: ”Ending tobacco displays in shops will protect young people from unsolicited promotions, helping them to resist the temptation to start smoking. It will also help and support adults who are trying to quit.”
However, Andrew Opie, the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) Food Director said: “Implementing the tobacco display ban is inconsistent, irrational and fails the Government’s own better regulation principles. It’s crazy to have forced large retailers to spend millions installing new shelves, introducing new signage and re-training staff.
“Retailers are working closely with the Government to help people stop smoking, alongside all their other work on public health and obesity, but the new policy on tobacco displays in shops is a costly irrelevance which could soon be obsolete.”
The change to how retailers display tobacco products is costing them a total of £15.6 million. However, the Government is also debating whether to enforce that all tobacco products are presented in plain packaging only, a move which will contradict the ethos of hiding the products in the first place. Mr Opie continued: “If a decision is taken to go ahead with plain packaging, hiding tobacco products from view in store becomes irrelevant.”
Smoking kills around 80,000 people every year in England alone, but will hiding the products from shop displays really help people to quit?
