Jeffrey Gottheil on Tobacco Display Advertising

Advertising Agency - J. Gottheil Marketing, President and Creative Director Jeffrey Gottheil,

Given the restrictions on tobacco advertising and distribution, the convenience store is both the main distribution channel and the main marketing communications channel for tobacco manufacturers. This has created a symbiosis or mutual dependency between manufacturers and c-stores.

Point-of-purchase displays are advertising and should be recognized as advertising. Moreover, point-of-purchase tobacco displays, or tobacco "power walls," arguably are and may have been for many years the most important advertising medium available to the tobacco industry. Given that Canadian governments have expressed a commitment to stop tobacco advertising directed at children, the failure until recently of governments to prevent tobacco point-of-purchase advertising has left children vulnerable to this powerful marketing medium.

Given the restrictions on tobacco advertising and distribution, and the elimination of sponsorship, the resources previously invested in other forms of tobacco advertising and promotion have been refocused on point-of-purchase. In the process, the convenience store remains the main distribution and marketing communications channel for tobacco manufacturers. This has created a symbiosis of mutual dependency between manufacturers and convenience stores.

The concentration of marketing dollars at point-of-purchase is not just because of the limited options open to tobacco companies. We stress that point-of-purchase advertising has always been important to tobacco companies. A market study by Brown & Williamson, a sister corporation to Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited, Canada's largest tobacco company, shows "the store environment, especially displays inside stores, is the biggest source of advertising awareness for all cigarette trademarks."

The "Power Walls" of tobacco product displays in Ontario c-stores are influencing kids:

85% of kids from non-smoking households spontaneously name c-stores as a place that sells cigarettes

Over 40% of kids from non-smoking households can spontaneously name brands of cigarettes

Over 60% of kids from non-smoking households believe that power walls might influence kids to try smoking.

Jeffrey Gottheil
President and Creative Director

J. Gottheil Marketing Communications Inc.
355 Adelaide street west, Suite 600
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 1S2

Tel: 905-762-1620
Fax: 905-762-1621
Toll Free: 1-888-762-1620

www.jgottheilmarketing.com

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Education

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• J. Gottheil Marketing
• Jeffrey Gottheil

[Jeffrey57G]

I appreciate your comment. Thank you. I'm quite aware that you must be 18 years of age and older to purchase tobacco products. The problem, is the influence these tobacco products have on children and adults trying to quit smoking. I encourage you to also watch the video I posted called Tobacco Powerwall Advertising by J. Gottheil. There you can see students under 18 talking about the problem and how they too feel that it's a major issue. I hope that helps. Please also see video comments.

[goodgoo4u]

What about the lottery corporation? They are ruining people's financial lives every day. 

[KripDrip]

r u stupid? Its illegal for kids to buy any tobacco products! Anyone under 18 cannot buy it.