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Cigarette displays 'going dark' as of July 1
Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader
heir cigarettes have a couple of months to put them out of sight. Alberta’s Tobacco Reduction Act of 2007 banned visual displays of all tobacco products, giving stores until July 1 of this year to put them under wraps.
The tobacco people are calling it ‘going dark.’
If they don’t do it, they could be fined up to $10,000 for a first offence and up to $100,000 for a second offence.
Penalties like that are worth avoiding, and stores in Slave Lake are making plans. At the 7 – 11 store, which has always had the classic ‘power wall’ cigarette display, manager Barb Courtorielle expects the company to send a carpenter to close off the cigarette cabinet sometime fairly soon. It will add a bit of inconvenience to the job of the clerks, but Courtorielle says it won’t bother her.
“I worked in a store that had it (in the city),” she says. “I was used to it.”
In the case of 7-11, it’s a matter of waiting for head office to make it happen. Local owners have to get the job done themselves.
Jesse Roberts, owner of Tags West, wants to avoid spending four or five thousand dollars on a specially-made drawer system for cigarettes. He has in mind a set of aluminum flaps that cover each section of the cigarette display case.
Having a single door that opens and closes is not sufficient, Roberts says. According to what he’s been told, “they don’t want you to see the rest of them while I get (a package).”
The ban on tobacco product displays evidently arose from the belief that such displays actually induce people to start smoking.
“There is substantial evidence that tobacco advertising and promotion increase tobacco use,” says ‘Campaign for a Smoke-Free Alberta’ a coalition of health organizations, on its website. “Point-of-sale displays are the most important advertising medium available to the Canadian tobacco industry because they reach all ages.”
It’s likely that all stores will comply before the deadline. Those The Leader spoke to are certainly aware of the new rules. In fact one has already put its tobacco products out of sight – the convenience store at the Sawridge Travel Centre. Manager Inga Lanctot says management wanted to be pro-active and got it done six months ahead of the deadline.
But what if some aren’t aware, or simply don’t comply?
The local RCMP is aware of the provisions of the new act. Staff Sgt. Willie Wittig says he’s got all the paperwork, but when it comes to cracking down in such matters, it’s often a matter of discretion. That’s perhaps why people can still be seen smoking in front of doorways, when according to the Tobacco Reduction Act they aren’t allowed to do so inside of five metres. Police are more likely to act when there’s a complaint, Wittig says. The same may go for violations of the provisions on displaying cigarettes, although Wittig says he expects stores to comply.
Shannon Haggarty of Alberta Health and Wellness thinks so too. She said that then Health Minister Dave Hancock talked plenty with the retail industry when the new law was being drafted.
“It is the law,” she says. “We expect people to follow it.”
Roberts, too, doubts if any store will fail to comply. All are well aware of the new rules, he says, because the tobacco company reps have been telling them about it. Also, he says, “I think it will be monitored pretty heavily.”
There is still a question, however – at least as far as Roberts is concerned – whether cigars and pipe tobacco and a product called ‘tobacco sticks’ need to be similarly hidden from public view under the new regulations.
“I’m waiting for them to get back to me on that,” he says.
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