All that glitters to hook you could be deadly

A worker controls manufactured cigarettes at an assembly line at a tobacco factory of Hubei China Tobacco Industry Co, Ltd in Hubei Enshi Economic Development Zone in Enshi city, Central China Hubei province, August 16 2013. [Photo/IC]

If you have visited or lived in China, chances are you have seen beautiful, glittering displays of cigarettes in specialist tobacco stores or around the cashier in convenience stores.

Tobacco advertising at retail points of sale - in specialist tobacco shops, as well as regular and convenience stores - has become an increasingly important form of marketing for tobacco companies in China and around the world. One of the "last avenues" of tobacco advertising has been exploited because of restrictions on other forms of tobacco advertising, such as on radio and TV, and in newspapers and magazines.

Yet tobacco advertising at retail points of sale is just as insidious as other forms of tobacco advertising, and in some ways even more dangerous. Convenience stores are magnets for youth and retail displays are well remembered by teenagers.

Just like other forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, displays and promotions at retail points of sale is marketing death - and should therefore be banned. This is why the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control requires a comprehensive ban on all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, including at retail points of sale.

In China, the National People's Congress Standing Committee is considering changes to the Advertising Law to strengthen existing restrictions on tobacco advertising. The proposed changes have gone through several iterations, both at the State Council, China's Cabinet, and now the NPC Standing Committee.

The WHO was delighted to see much stronger restrictions on tobacco advertising included in the latest draft of the proposed changes to the Advertising Law and congratulates the NPC Standing Committee for proposing them. This is a great step forward.

However, the revised law would still not be fully compliant with the WHO FCTC because it would allow some forms of tobacco advertising, including at retail points of sale. And this is a major concern, because the exemption from advertising ban proposed for retail points of sale would seriously undermine the much stronger restrictions on other forms of tobacco advertising proposed by the new law.