Survey Finds Tobacco Ads Still Near Candy Racks

Tobacco advertisements next to candy racks in local stores have risen dramatically during the past two years, the Operation Storefront anti-tobacco coalition announced Thursday.

Of 199 stores surveyed in five Orange County cities, 53% placed tobacco advertisements next to candy racks, compared to 20% in 1995.

Overall, the number of tobacco advertisements and promotions in each store dropped slightly, and fewer stores were placing ads at the eye level of children.

Still, coalition members said they were disappointed that children seem to remain the target of so many tobacco advertisements.

“Normally, you call a press conference to brag about a program,” said the county’s deputy director of public health, Ron LaPorte. “We can’t do that.”

The activists said they may ask local officials to enforce advertising laws more aggressively or to create new laws to crack down on tobacco sales to minors.

Operation Storefront is part of the Tobacco Use Prevention Program Coalition, a group of more than two-dozen community organizations affiliated with the county Health Care Agency.

A spokesman with the Washington-based Tobacco Institute denied children are being targeted for tobacco sales, and said all types of companies pay stores to put up advertisements.

“[Small grocery] stores are tight in space,” Thomas Lauria said of tobacco advertisements placed next to candy racks. “Everything is close to everything else.”