HEADLINES

• Wholesaler predicts display ban boost for independent retailers
• Mental health patients' judicial review of smoking ban allowed to proceed
• How YSL is promoting 'sophisticated' own-label cigarettes in Asia and Russia
• Facebook removes blanket bans on tobacco promotions
• BMJ Group awards recognise leading Oxford researcher
• Blue tits choose ashtray nest at Cawston’s Ratcatcher’s Inn

• Wholesaler predicts display ban boost for independent retailers

  The independent sector could receive a substantial boost when the tobacco display ban is introduced in multiple stores in April 2012, according to Booker Group chief executive Charles Wilson.

  During a conference call to discuss Booker’s results, he said: “When the display ban comes into effect in the multiples in 2012 we believe £0.5bn of tobacco sales could move into the independent sector.”

  He added that the increased footfall would also generate additional sales for independent stores.

  Source: Wholesale News - 19 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/iQ7UR3

• Mental health patients' judicial review of smoking ban allowed to proceed

  Milton Keynes Chadwick Lodge Hospital patients, who have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act, have had their challenge to the no smoking ban heard. Mr Justice Silber said that the case was of great importance and gave the claimants the permission they needed to seek a judicial review.

  Hospitals that have concerns about patients being allowed to go outside have the right to ban smoking either in or outside of the premises and according to Hugh Southey QC, who had represented the patients, the ban had been implemented at the Chadwick Lodge Hospital last December.

  He went on to argue that the 2010 Equality Act had been breached by the Chadwick Lodge.

  Source: This Just Happened - 18 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/iZZhCu

• How YSL is promoting 'sophisticated' own-label cigarettes in Asia and Russia

  The Yves Saint Laurent fashion company is promoting and selling cigarettes bearing its designer logo to women in Asia and Russia.

  They are accompanied by an advertisement featuring a model that looks uncannily like Kate Moss, who came under fierce criticism when she smoked on the Louis Vuitton catwalk earlier this year.

  Online retailers, which sell the cigarettes for up to $44 per 200-cigarette sleek black pack with gold foil, reveal that the product first launched in 1989.

  Promotional script tells prospective buyers that the label's 'philosophy is to give their cigarettes a classic sophisticated look.';  adding 'Creating a sense of appeal to female vanity and thereby making the woman who chose to smoke Yves Saint Laurent cigarettes more attractive than one who smokes another brand or more attractive than a woman who did not smoke at all.'

  Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health said: 'Since the advertising ban preventing any advertising promotion or sponsorship by tobacco companies came into force smoking amongst young people has dropped by a third.

  'We won’t see Yves St Laurent cigarettes on sale here, as tobacco companies are banned from using brandsharing to promote smoking in the UK, or anywhere in Europe.

  'Sadly in Russia and many parts of Asia young people are not yet protected from such tobacco industry tactics, and glamorous brands like YSL can be used to suck them into an addiction that will lead to death and disability.

  'YSL should be ashamed of itself.'

  Source: Daily Mail - 19 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/jqF0ts

• Facebook removes blanket bans on tobacco promotions

  In updating its promotions guidelines this week, Facebook has removed blanket prohibitions for promotions of a range of items, including tobacco products.

  Promoters must still comply with restrictions in the jurisdictions where the promotions are held, but Facebook has dropped its site-wide restrictions.

  Facebook said that the change came to simplify the ‘promotions guidelines to make them easier to understand and consistent with the format of other Facebook Terms & Policies’.

  Source: Tobacco Reporter - 19 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/kiJd9z

• BMJ Group awards recognise leading Oxford researcher

  Professor Sir Richard Peto’s outstanding career in medical research has been recognised by the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the BMJ Group at a ceremony in London, following a vote by the British Medical Journal's readers.

  The award seeks to recognise a unique and substantial contribution to improving health. His work has contributed to reduced death rates in many areas of the world.

  In collaboration with Sir Richard Doll, Professor Peto demonstrated the extraordinary hazards of persistent cigarette smoking, which exceed those from all the other known causes of cancer put together. He also showed the substantial benefits of stopping smoking, directly influencing public policy in many countries.

  This article includes a video, available by clicking on the link below.

  Source: University of Oxford - 19 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/lN7BKT

• Blue tits choose ashtray nest at Cawston’s Ratcatcher’s Inn

  Customers at a north Norfolk pub are waiting to see whether baby birds which have recently hatched in an outdoor cigarette stub box will make their first appearance with roll-ups hanging from the sides of their beaks.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were born with an addiction to nicotine!” said Peter McCarter, landlord of the Ratcatchers Inn, at Cawston, near Aylsham.

  A notice has gone up on the stub box politely asking smokers to ‘butt out’ of using it while the young family of blue tits is in residence.

  Source: The Advertiser 24 - 18 May 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/j6XCic