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Tobacco Industry News
Research
Smoking apps may break advertising laws
A study published in the British Medical Journal reports that downloadable pro-smoking applications or apps may be breaching tobacco advertising laws. Apps that advertise tobacco products and/or use are accessible by young people via smart phones and computers. The study identified 107 pro-smoking apps by searching the Apple and Android app stores, and the researchers note that the apps are sometimes hidden in entertainment, games, lifestyle, and health and fitness categories. Marketing these products in the games and entertainment categories increases their accessibility and appeal to children and young adults. The researchers name steps that the app stores could take to place limits on this harmful content and come into compliance with countries’ existing bans on tobacco advertisements. Click here to read more, or click here for the abstract of the study.
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Reports
New Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association (SFATA) promoting e-cig self-regulation
The newly chartered organization, the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association (SFATA), introduced its program and marketed itself to new members at the Association of Convenience and Fuel Retailing Conference (NACS) in Las Vegas in October. SFATA is the first association dedicated solely to the smoke-free alternatives industry, and supports the notion that e-cigarettes (e-cigs) are not as harmful as tobacco products and should not be classified and regulated as such. The organization has outlined an aggressive recruitment program to gain membership among existing and new e-cigarette manufacturers, retailers, and distributors. Click here to read the statement released by Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights to address the e-cigarette industry’s recent growth and misleading health claims. Click here for more information about SFATA.
Managing a changing tobacco category
The emerging market in the tobacco industry’s “other tobacco products” (OTP) category is gaining momentum in tobacco retail stores, according to an analysis from the convenience store news outlet CSPnet. OTP has increased in tobacco sales dollars by 3.3 point shares in the past decade, and has tripled in contribution to tobacco’s gross margin dollars. The inclusion of OTP such as snus and e-cigarettes in tobacco companies’ product lines is being recognized as an integral part of tobacco sales and profits, with traditional cigarettes contributing a decreasing amount in value. Tobacco industry experts claim that while cigarettes are still a large category of tobacco sales, OTP is here to stay, and the industry is in transition in embracing OTP. To read more, click here.
Find out how much money big tobacco is spending in your district
The nonprofit organization Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) released a new interactive map that provides details on campaign donations from the tobacco industry to congressional races by state and district. Click here to learn more, or click here to access this resource.
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