To the editor:
You can't walk into a store this time of year and not be bombarded with bright colors, large signs and displays that impact your purchasing decisions. Holiday shopping is a marketing frenzy for many corporations. Yet all year round, tobacco companies spend more than a half-million dollars a day in New York state to market their addictive product. In 2012, the surgeon general reported that tobacco marketing has a direct link to a teenager's tobacco use. In-store tobacco displays send messages to teens and children that distort the social acceptability and popularity of tobacco use.
The average tobacco marketing display at a convenience store or pharmacy is 32 square feet. That's equivalent to a 4-foot-by-8-foot area rug full of cigarette packages and tobacco marketing right behind the cash register. Tobacco Control Programs throughout New York state are working to educate the community about the policy options that help limit children's exposure to tobacco marketing. To learn more about supporting NYS Tobacco Control Programs, visit www.tobaccofreenys.org
Sincerely,
Nanette Postlethwait
Tobacco control program assistant
Adirondack Tobacco Free Network
Plattsburgh