Boosting the Tobacco Control Vaccine: Recognizing the Role of the Retail Environment in Addressing Tobacco Use Anddisparities
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Special communication Tob Control: first published as 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-055722 on 23 September 2020. Downloaded from Boosting the Tobacco Control Vaccine: recognizing the role of the retail environment in addressing tobacco use and disparities Amanda Y. Kong ,1 Brian A. King2 1Department of Health Behavior, ABSTRACT the sales of combustible tobacco products.8 To date, Gillings School of Global Public Much of the progress in reducing cigarette smoking several countries have instituted varying smoking Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel and tobacco- related morbidity and mortality among prevalence endgame targets, including New Zealand Hill, North Carolina, USA youth and adults is attributable to population- level (5% smoking prevalence by 2025), Scotland (<5% 2Office on Smoking and Health, strategies previously described in the context of the by 2034) and Hong Kong (5% by 2022).7 Centers for Disease Control and Tobacco Control Vaccine. The retail environment is The USA has not set an endgame target, but Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, used heavily by the tobacco industry to promote and two of the primary strategies discussed in recent USA advertise its products, and variations in exposure to and Surgeon General Reports include POS- related strat- characteristics of the retail environment exist across egies, including bans on the sales of some catego- Correspondence to 9 10 Amanda Y. Kong, Department demographic groups. It is therefore also an essential ries of tobacco products. As the tobacco control of Health Behavior, Gillings environment for further reducing smoking, as well as landscape has evolved in recent decades, the retail School of Global Public Health, ameliorating racial, ethnic and socioeconomic tobacco- sector has become an increasingly prominent place University of North Carolina at related disparities. This commentary provides an overview for tobacco product access and marketing. Accord- Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; of the importance of incorporating strategies focused ingly, retail- focused tobacco control strategies may on the tobacco retailer environment (availability; pricing be important levers for further reducing overall akong2@ live. unc. edu CDC Library. Protected by copyright. and promotion; advertising and display; age of sale; and cigarette smoking, and ameliorating observed Received 25 February 2020 retail licensure) as part of a comprehensive approach racial, ethnic and socioeconomic tobacco- related Revised 22 July 2020 Accepted 28 July 2020 to tobacco prevention and control. To reach tobacco disparities. endgame targets, such innovative strategies are a This commentary provides an overview of the complement to, but not a replacement for, long- standing importance of incorporating retail- focused strat- evidence- based components of the Tobacco Control egies as part of an integrated approach to help Vaccine. achieve the tobacco endgame. As the USA has just begun more robust discussions on retailer-focused endgame strategies, we use the USA as an under- lying framework, with the understanding that these BACKGROUND strategies may be applicable globally. Globally, substantial progress has been made in tobacco control, and much of this progress is a result of the implementation of evidence- and FEDERAL REGULATORY CONTEXT http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/ population- based strategies, including those With the passage of regulations in the USA outlined in the WHO’s Framework Convention on addressing the manner in which tobacco products Tobacco Control (FCTC).1 2 The strategies that have can be advertised, including the 1998 Master Settle- been most impactful against the tobacco epidemic ment Agreement and the 2009 Prevent All Cigarette have recently been described in the context of the Trafficking Act, the tobacco industry has continued Tobacco Control Vaccine.3 The four components of to shift its advertising and promotion expenditures the Tobacco Control Vaccine include tobacco price towards less regulated areas, most notably the retail 11 12 increases, smoke- free policies, hard- hitting media environment. Tobacco industry documents and campaigns and access to cessation resources.3 interviews with tobacco retailers reveal the indus- However, while progress has been made in try’s use of contracts and retailer promotional incen- combating the tobacco epidemic globally, calls tive programmes to secure prime POS display space on October 6, 2020 at Stephen B. Thacker have been made to explore additional strategies to encourage high sales volumes.11 12 In the USA to further reduce the burden of tobacco use.4 5 alone, the tobacco industry spent approximately These ‘endgame’ strategies are defined as ‘Initia- $9.4 billion13 on the marketing of cigarette and tives designed to change/eliminate permanently the smokeless tobacco products in 2017, $7.3 billion14 structural, political and social dynamics that sustain of which was for marketing and promotion in the © Author(s) (or their the tobacco epidemic, in order to end it within a retail environment. The 2009 Family Smoking employer(s)) 2020. No 6 commercial re- use. See rights specific time’. The importance of considering Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA) and permissions. Published aspects of place (both locally and globally) when granted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by BMJ. implementing endgame strategies has been noted, authority to regulate several aspects of the tobacco especially as local context and endgame strategies retail environment, including tobacco advertising, To cite: Kong AY, King BA. 7 15 Tob Control Epub ahead of may impact various social groups differentially. marketing, sales and distribution. Importantly, the print: [please include Day For example, potential endgame strategies include FSPTCA does not pre- empt, or prohibit, states and Month Year]. doi:10.1136/ several actions focused on the point of sale (POS), communities from enacting more stringent retailer- tobaccocontrol-2020-055722 including licensing of tobacco retailers and banning focused strategies. Kong AY, King BA. Tob Control 2020;0:1–7. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-055722 1 Special communication Tob Control: first published as 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-055722 on 23 September 2020. Downloaded from TOBACCO RETAILER ENVIRONMENT Product availability It is estimated that there are 375 000 retailers that sell tobacco One way to decrease the presence of the tobacco industry in the products across the USA.16 Both adults and youth regularly retail environment is to prohibit sales of the product. While the interact with tobacco retailers, and the average US store has FDA cannot prohibit entire tobacco product classes, states and nearly 30 tobacco marketing materials (eg, branded signs; localities are not pre-empted from prohibiting their sales.9 In branded shelving, such as power walls; branded functional 2019, Beverly Hills, California, became the first USA jurisdiction items).17 In the USA, gas and convenience stores are the most to vote to prohibit the sales of all tobacco products, including common type of tobacco retailer and also have a higher prev- e- cigarettes, effective January 2021; however, cigar lounges and alence of tobacco advertising than other retailer types.17 The hotels are exempt.33 In 2020, Manhattan Beach, California, majority of US adult smokers purchase their cigarettes at gas became the second USA jurisdiction to approve a similar regula- and convenience stores,18 and nearly half of youth visit conve- tion without carve- outs.34 However, in both places, all retailers nience stores weekly.19 Additionally, variations in exposure are able to apply for hardship exemptions that would allow them to the retail environment exist across demographic groups; to continue selling tobacco products for a limited time.33 34 for example, Black youth living in rural areas and those with greater neighbourhood deprivation (eg, poverty level, educa- tion, unemployment) are more likely to report weekly conve- Flavoured tobacco products nience store visits.19 Numerous jurisdictions have also taken actions to limit the availability of specific tobacco product types, namely flavoured tobacco products. Flavoured combustible tobacco products, Inequities in the tobacco retail environment including mentholated products, reduce the harshness of smoke, Examination of historical tobacco industry documents reveals the making it easier to inhale.22 35 36 As such, flavoured products are tobacco industry’s focus on the retail environment as a venue for particularly appealing to novice smokers such as youth.37 38 In targeting their products to certain groups. In 1984, an RJ Reyn- 2015, Nova Scotia, Canada, became the first jurisdiction in the olds consumer report indicated that the Black population was an world to implement a ban on the sales of menthol cigarettes, and ‘important target group’ and outlined strategies for reaching this there has been no evidence of increased illicit cigarette sales.39 In population, including encouraging menthol cigarette brands, October 2017, a federal Canadian menthol tobacco product ban CDC Library. Protected by copyright. increasing the availability of promotions and placing promo- was implemented.40 Turkey was the first country to implement a tions in specific store types.20 21 Additionally, flavoured cigars menthol ban on cigarettes and hand- rolled tobacco in 2015, and were designed to appeal to new tobacco users and women, with this regulation was fully implemented in May 2020.41