Advertising and display of tobacco products at points of sale in El Salvador

Abstract

Objective. To study the impact of advertising and exposure of tobacco products at point of sale and to identify tobacco products marketing on internet. Methodology. Qualitative study using simple random sampling to studying 125 authorized points of sales for merchandising tobacco products; 1,250 adult consumer population visiting the point of sales and 20 websites that refers to sell tobacco products in El Salvador. Analyses were performed using SPSS version 24.0. Results. In 4% of point of sales were advertising of tobacco products inside. There is a high index of impulse purchase of cigarettes because 80% of smokers have decided to buy tobacco cigarettes standing in front of cash register. In 90.4% of point of sales the tobacco sales represent less than 5% of the global sales of the business. Conclusions. It is required to implement a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising on point of sales, mainly because it undermines the effectiveness of tobacco control law and the implementation of Article 13 of the WHO FCTC.