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Displays of cigarette packs behind shop counters do tempt would-be quitters back to smoking, says new research that claims to blow the lid off a tobacco industry myth.
The world-first study led by Australian researchers found more than a third of smokers who were trying to quit or cut down were tempted to buy cigarettes as a direct result of seeing them on display.
And 60 per cent of these gave in to the urge, forking out at least once even though they had never intended to buy any.
The research, to be published next week in the international journal Addiction, also proves that recent quitters are lured back into the habit by the large glossy pack displays.
The findings have prompted health groups to call on governments to make removing cigarette pack displays from sight in the retail environment an urgent public health priority.
Led by Professor Melanie Wakefield of the Cancer Council Victoria, the study aimed to assess the extent to which cigarette pack displays in retail stores stimulate impulse purchases of cigarettes.
The survey involved 526 adults who smoked factory-made cigarettes and 67 recent quitters.
Professor Wakefield said: "The importance to the tobacco industry of cigarette pack displays in the retail environment has gained in recent years, as traditional electronic, billboard and print forms of tobacco marketing are restricted.
"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, every time they visit a store."
Professor Wakefield said the tobacco industry marketing tactic of creating colour co-ordinated power walls of cigarettes at the point-of-sale might also tempt recent quitters to relapse.
"More than half of long-term smokers will die of a smoking caused-disease so, in light of these findings, we urge all jurisdictions to develop legislation to remove tobacco displays from sight in retail stores."
Quit executive director Fiona Sharkie supported the call, saying it would ease the regulatory burden for tobacco retailers, as the present legislation was "incredibly complicated".
"Removing cigarette displays from point-of-sale is not about making life hard for retailers. In fact it will simplify the regulatory process."
- AAP
