Cigarette display coverups could change attitudes about smoking among teens, new study says

Teenagers might change their attitudes about cigarette smoking by what could be dubbed a “don’t show, don’t tell” policy that keeps tobacco products in stores out of sight, according to a new British study.

Researchers in Ireland simply removed cigarette and tobacco items from store displays during a three-year survey that examined the effect on attitudes about smoking. The University of Nottingham’s Centre for Tobacco Control Studies reports the number of teens who recalled the tobacco-driven ad displays dropped from 81% to 22%.

Further, the study says, 38% of teens thought the coverup would make it easier to keep kids from smoking while 14% of adults thought it would make it easier to quit.

Ireland has since outlawed cigarette displays and cigarette vending machines, and Britain is poised to take up the issue in October, researchers say. Here’s the full study published in Tobacco Control.

In this country, the Food and Drug Administration recently invited the public to vote on new cigarette warning labels with graphic photos aimed at getting folks to quit. Here’s a post from the Los Angeles Times blog Booster Shots that links to the images and explains how to cast your ballot.

And Thursday marked the Great American Smokeout, the annual event that encourages smokers to quit. Stories posted on Booster Shots share the latest research on smokers and what statistics say about the most recent quitters.

Hmmm, based on the British study, maybe it should be the Great American Cover-Up.