Community and Youth Leaders Mark the End of
Big Tobacco’s Powerful Marketing Presence in 10, 000 Stores
THUNDER BAY – On Saturday, Thunder Bay youth took slap-shots against big tobacco, with support of the Docs on Ice Charity Hockey Tournament. The goal of the event was to raise awareness of the province-wide PowerWall ban that comes into effect on May 31, 2008. This ban will remove the tobacco retail store displays that are one of the industry’s best hooks for addicting young people.
“These display walls are proven to lure people into using a deadly product,” says Alex Kranyak, local spokesperson for Youth Engaged in Tobacco Free Initiatives (YETI), Thunder Bay’s Youth Action Alliance. “The tobacco companies know there is a captive youth audience at retail stores. That’s why they advertise using the PowerWalls.”
Big tobacco spends hundreds of millions of dollars on PowerWalls - in 2006, the tobacco industry spent about $40 million on PowerWalls in Ontario alone. Their return on investment is the ability to precisely target those vulnerable to addiction, especially experimenting youth.
The PowerWall ban is part of the Smoke Free Ontario Act. “We’re celebrating and promoting this achievement with an event to raise awareness. Our motto for the event is ‘Youth have the Power!’,” adds Kranyak. “Our aim is to ensure that young people will be free of the influence of powerful tobacco industry marketing that leads to illness, disease and death.”
Under the Act, a complete ban on the retail display of tobacco products will come into force on May 31, 2008, which is also World No Tobacco Day. Ontario retailers will be required to remove PowerWalls and will not be allowed to display tobacco products before they are purchased. On this date, Ontario joins other jurisdictions, such as Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Nunavut that ban point-of-purchase display of tobacco products. The province of Quebec is also banning the display of tobacco products on the same day.
Businesses have known about the ban since 2006 and the Ministry of Health Promotion and Public Health Units are responsible for working with vendors to ensure effective implementation.
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