'Friends with benefits': how tobacco companies influence sales through the provision of incentives and benefits to retailers.
advertising and promotion
public policy
tobacco industry
Journal
Tobacco control
ISSN: 1468-3318
Titre abrégé: Tob Control
Pays: England
ID NLM: 9209612
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
12 2020
12 2020
Historique:
received:
13
09
2019
revised:
06
01
2020
accepted:
15
01
2020
pubmed:
12
2
2020
medline:
16
10
2021
entrez:
12
2
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
In countries banning advertising and display of tobacco at point-of-sale, little is known about tobacco companies' continuing promotion of products through incentives and benefits to retailers. A telephone survey of 4527 randomly selected Australian retailers was conducted in August 2018, and identified 800 current tobacco retailers (response rate: 72.4%) who were asked a series of questions about benefits offered to them by tobacco companies and what retailers agreed to in return. 41.1% of retailers reported being provided with a tobacco cabinet and 38.3% reported having a price list supplied by a tobacco company. One-third (33.3%) reported being offered at least one benefit from a tobacco company for doing something in return. Price discounts were the most frequently reported benefit (19.0%), followed by rebates (8.4%) and gifts (3.0%). Retailers also reported offers of prizes and incentives for increasing sales or demonstrating product knowledge. In return, retailers reported giving companies benefits such as prominence on the price list and/or in the tobacco cabinet and/or influence over the product range and stock levels. Tobacco companies are continuing to market tobacco and influence sales through provision of incentives and benefits to retailers. Laws that ban the supply of benefits to consumers should be extended to also prohibit the provision of benefits to tobacco retailers.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
In countries banning advertising and display of tobacco at point-of-sale, little is known about tobacco companies' continuing promotion of products through incentives and benefits to retailers.
METHOD
A telephone survey of 4527 randomly selected Australian retailers was conducted in August 2018, and identified 800 current tobacco retailers (response rate: 72.4%) who were asked a series of questions about benefits offered to them by tobacco companies and what retailers agreed to in return.
RESULTS
41.1% of retailers reported being provided with a tobacco cabinet and 38.3% reported having a price list supplied by a tobacco company. One-third (33.3%) reported being offered at least one benefit from a tobacco company for doing something in return. Price discounts were the most frequently reported benefit (19.0%), followed by rebates (8.4%) and gifts (3.0%). Retailers also reported offers of prizes and incentives for increasing sales or demonstrating product knowledge. In return, retailers reported giving companies benefits such as prominence on the price list and/or in the tobacco cabinet and/or influence over the product range and stock levels.
CONCLUSION
Tobacco companies are continuing to market tobacco and influence sales through provision of incentives and benefits to retailers. Laws that ban the supply of benefits to consumers should be extended to also prohibit the provision of benefits to tobacco retailers.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32041830
pii: tobaccocontrol-2019-055383
doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2019-055383
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e119-e123Informations de copyright
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Competing interests: None declared.