Prevention Approach 3: Retailer-Directed Interventions

The primary goal of tobacco retailer-directed interventions is to reduce tobacco sales to minors and tobacco purchases by minors. Within this approach, research and practice is divided into three clusters: merchant and community education about adolescent tobacco use and laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors, enactment of laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors, and enforcement of laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors combined with merchant and community education about adolescent tobacco use and the laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors.

CLUSTER 1: Merchant and Community Education About Adolescent Tobacco Use and the Laws Prohibiting Tobacco Sales to Minors

Rationale

Research demonstrates that adolescents can easily purchase tobacco products in convenience stores, grocery stores, service stations, and pharmacies. Educating merchants, clerks, and community members about adolescent tobacco use and the laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors should reduce the likelihood of sales to minors.

Objectives of the Studies Reviewed

• To determine whether education programs aimed at merchants and the community at large reduce the sale of tobacco products to minors

• To determine whether offering positive reinforcement to clerks and merchants for not selling tobacco to minors reduces tobacco sales to minors

• To determine whether asking for proof of age reduces tobacco sales to minors

Activities of the Studies Reviewed

• Educate clerks and merchants about adolescent tobacco problems, existing laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors, and their responsibility for complying with these laws.

• Educate the public, community groups, and mass media about adolescent tobacco problems and existing laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors.

• Enlist community support for and involvement in educational interventions.

• Monitor and publicize the results of attempts made by adolescents to purchase tobacco.

• Provide warning signs in retail stores about laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors.

CLUSTER 2: Enactment of Laws To Prohibit Tobacco Sales to Minors

Rationale

Research demonstrates that adolescents can easily purchase tobacco products in convenience stores, grocery stores, service stations, and pharmacies. They can easily purchase cigarettes from vending machines. Enacting laws prohibiting over-the-counter and vending machine tobacco sales to minors should reduce the likelihood of tobacco sales to them.

Objectives of the Studies Reviewed

• To determine whether enacting laws to restrict tobacco sales to minors and increasing penalties for merchants who violate these laws will result in a change in merchants' attitudes and behaviors

• To determine whether an ordinance restricting tobacco sales to minors has an effect on sales to them

• To determine whether an ordinance that mandates locking devices on cigarette machines will decrease machine sales of cigarettes to minors

Activities of the Studies Reviewed

• Enact local ordinances restricting the sale of tobacco to minors.

• Place cigarette vending machines in locations inaccessible to minors.

• Require locking devices on cigarette vending machines that merchants must unlock for a purchase to occur.

• Require merchant licenses for vending machines.

• Require merchant licenses for over-the-counter sales of tobacco products.

• Require merchants to ask for proof of age when a customer appears to be underage.

• Require that merchants post warning signs about laws restricting tobacco sales to minors.

• Enact civil penalties (for example, suspension or revocation of licenses) for violating laws restricting tobacco sales to minors.

CLUSTER 3: Enforcement of Laws Prohibiting Tobacco Sales to Minors Plus Merchant and Community Education About Adolescent Tobacco Use and the Laws Prohibiting Tobacco Sales to Adolescents

Rationale

Research demonstrates that adolescents can easily purchase tobacco products in convenience stores, grocery stores, service stations, and pharmacies. They can easily purchase cigarettes from vending machines. A comprehensive effort to enact and enforce laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors, in addition to educating merchants, clerks, and the community about these laws and about adolescent tobacco use, should reduce the likelihood of tobacco sales to minors.

Objectives of the Studies Reviewed

• To determine whether enforcement of laws prohibiting tobacco sales, combined with merchant and community education about adolescent tobacco use and the laws prohibiting sales to minors, will decrease sales of tobacco products to minors over the long term

• To determine whether an enforcement component in combination with a community education intervention has greater impact than an education program alone

Activities of the Studies Reviewed

• Seek and secure community partnership, support, and sponsorship of prevention activities.

• Establish the rate of tobacco sales to minors by monitoring purchase attempts.

• Visit merchants to educate them about the laws prohibiting sales to minors and the consequences of noncompliance.

• Have youth and law enforcement personnel work together to deliver merchant education materials (for example, tips on how to refuse sales to minors, warning signs, fact sheets).

• Monitor and publicize the results of adolescents' attempts to purchase tobacco products.

• Provide positive reinforcement (for example, financial rewards, product incentives, media recognition) to merchants who refuse to sell tobacco to adolescents.

• Hold press conferences and similar events to publicize activities.

Lessons Learned From Reviewed Evidence

• Merchant education is a valuable component of community-based prevention strategies. Although merchant education as an independent component of prevention may not cause robust results by itself, it appears to enhance the effect of other prevention components.

• Similarly, merchant education in the context of a multicomponent community-based prevention program helps to increase promotion of community involvement. It can help merchants to understand their role in community prevention efforts and to perceive themselves as community partners. Merchant education helps other community partners to understand the roles and responsibilities of merchants in a community partnership and diminishes the likelihood of viewing cigarette merchants as adversaries.

• There is a continuum of effect as a result of increasing the intensity of interventions; that is, the passing of a law prohibiting tobacco sales to minors without any other interventions will have the least effect. The intervention effect is optimized when there are several components, namely: (1) enacting laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors, (2) enforcing these laws through publicized purchase attempts with police sponsorship or cooperation, (3) educating merchants and the community about adolescent tobacco use and the laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors, (4) seeking comprehensive community support of these prevention efforts, and (5) education of and cooperation with judges to impose consequences on violators of the tobacco access laws.

• Adolescents can take an active role in education and prevention efforts with adults. They can be effective as partners in educating members of the legislature, local judges, and local organizations and agencies. In particular, adolescents can work as partners with law enforcement during merchant education efforts.

• Decreased sales of tobacco to youth within a given community are not necessarily indicative of decreased availability or accessibility to youth, because adolescents may be able to obtain tobacco in nearby communities. The real-world effects of these efforts should be considered on the target population as well as on nearby communities.