Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Tobacco Control logoLink to Tobacco Control
. 2000 Mar;9(1):71–77. doi: 10.1136/tc.9.1.71

Case study of attempts to enact self service tobacco display ordinances: a tale of three communities

M Bidell 1, M Furlong 1, D Dunn 1, J Koegler 1
PMCID: PMC1748293  PMID: 10691760

Abstract

OBJECTIVE—To examine self service tobacco displays (SSTDs) and youth retail tobacco access by comparing longitudinal illegal tobacco sales rates in three communities in Santa Barbara County, California, that considered or implemented ordinances banning SSTDs. A confirmatory survey was also conducted to substantiate the longitudinal data.
DESIGN—A longitudinal case study design was utilised. Five undercover tobacco buys were conducted between 1994 and 1997 (n = 332). In addition, one confirmatory survey was conducted in a geographically separated area, which had no ordinances banning SSTDs (n = 57).
RESULTS—Decreases in youth buy rates were reported in all three communities. Most notably, the first city to enact a SSTD ban, Carpinteria, achieved a 0% sales rate, which was maintained throughout the study period. In contrast, Santa Barbara and Goleta experienced considerable drops in their illegal sales rates, but neither community obtained results as dramatic as those found in Carpinteria. The confirmatory survey showed that 32.1% of stores with SSTDs sold cigarettes to minors; this compares to a sales rate of 3.4% in stores without SSTDs (χ2 (1) = 8.11, p = 0.004).
CONCLUSIONS—Efforts to enact self service bans are likely to meet with retail and tobacco industry opposition, as was the case in this study's three communities. The process of community debate, resultant publicity surrounding the issue, and enactment of SSTD ordinances may serve to not only increase merchant awareness of youth tobacco laws and their penalties but also may contribute to reduced youth cigarette sales rates. Implications and limitations of the findings are discussed.


Keywords: self service tobacco displays; youth tobacco access; community tobacco control efforts

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (142.1 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Cismoski J., Sheridan M. Tobacco acquisition practices of adolescents in two Wisconsin communities. Wis Med J. 1994 Nov;93(11):585–591. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cohen J. E., Stanley L. C., Martin J. D., Goldstein A. O. Illegal sales of cigarettes to minors in North Carolina. N C Med J. 1995 Jan;56(1):59–63. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cummings K. M., Pechacek T., Shopland D. The illegal sale of cigarettes to US minors: estimates by state. Am J Public Health. 1994 Feb;84(2):300–302. doi: 10.2105/ajph.84.2.300. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cummings K. M., Shah D., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Trends in smoking initiation among adolescents and young adults--United States, 1980-1989. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1995 Jul 21;44(28):521–525. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Erickson A. D., Woodruff S. I., Wildey M. B., Kenney E. A baseline assessment of cigarette sales to minors in San Diego, California. J Community Health. 1993 Aug;18(4):213–224. doi: 10.1007/BF01324432. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Feighery E., Altman D. G., Shaffer G. The effects of combining education and enforcement to reduce tobacco sales to minors. A study of four northern California communities. JAMA. 1991 Dec 11;266(22):3168–3171. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hinds M. W. Impact of a local ordinance banning tobacco sales to minors. Public Health Rep. 1992 May-Jun;107(3):355–358. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Jason L. A., Ji P. Y., Anes M. D., Birkhead S. H. Active enforcement of cigarette control laws in the prevention of cigarette sales to minors. JAMA. 1991 Dec 11;266(22):3159–3161. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Landrine H., Klonoff E. A., Alcaraz R. Asking age and identification may decrease minors' access to tobacco. Prev Med. 1996 May-Jun;25(3):301–306. doi: 10.1006/pmed.1996.0060. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Pierce J. P., Gilpin E. How long will today's new adolescent smoker be addicted to cigarettes? Am J Public Health. 1996 Feb;86(2):253–256. doi: 10.2105/ajph.86.2.253. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Rigotti N. A., DiFranza J. R., Chang Y., Tisdale T., Kemp B., Singer D. E. The effect of enforcing tobacco-sales laws on adolescents' access to tobacco and smoking behavior. N Engl J Med. 1997 Oct 9;337(15):1044–1051. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199710093371505. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Tobacco Control are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES