The Surge of Illegal E-cigarettes: How Can We Respond?
E-cigarettes, commonly known as vapes, are electronic devices that heat liquid and produce aerosol. These devices are the most popular commercial tobacco product among youth, typically contain nicotine, and come in several enticing flavors including candy, fruit, and menthol, making them highly addictive and dangerous. Findings from the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey report that among youth who [More]
The Evolving Alcohol Market: Tools for Coalition Advocacy
This month, Dr. Matt Rossheim of the University of North Texas Health Science Center and Executive Director Maria Julian presented on CADCA's latest Research Into Action webinar. This webinar examined recent changes in the alcohol market that pose risks, especially to youth, and introduced a free, user-friendly retail surveillance tool to help coalitions advocate for policy change. [More]
New partnerships taking flight
We are excited to partner in new ways with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to support MDH in working toward its vision for health equity in Minnesota, where all communities are thriving and all people have what they need to be healthy. After partnering with MDH from 2013 - 2021, Counter Tools is providing [More]
Updated Report: Tobacco Companies and Convenience Stores Partner to Hook Kids, Fight Life-Saving Policies
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has released an updated version of the report Deadly Alliance: How Big Tobacco and Convenience Stores Partner to Hook Kids and Fight Life-Saving Policies in partnership with the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC), American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Center for Black Health [More]
CounterTobacco.org’s 12th Annual Point-of-Sale Tobacco Marketing Photo Contest
CounterTobacco.org’s 12th Annual Point-of-Sale Tobacco Marketing Photo Contest is here! Each year we host this contest to showcase what’s happening in the tobacco retail environment all across the country. These images are crucial to educating the public, educating policymakers, and furthering the success of state and local tobacco control efforts that seek to reduce tobacco industry influence at the [More]
What do we know about modern oral nicotine pouches?
If you’ve visited a convenience store lately, you’ve likely seen advertisements for nicotine pouches like Zyn, On!, Rogue or Velo. These ‘modern’ oral nicotine products have seen massive increases in sales over the last several years. What do we know about these products and who’s using them? Oral nicotine pouches are similar to the spitless, [More]
Paving the Road: How Electric Vehicles Can Affect Tobacco Control at the Point of Sale
President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order in August 2021 that set a target for electric vehicles (EVs) to make up half of all new vehicle sales in the U.S. by 2030. Later that year, he signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to build out a nationwide EV charging network. The momentum towards [More]
The Impact of the Retail Environment and Alcohol Outlet Density
The alcohol industry is quite transparent in their goals to recruit new drinkers, including women, Hispanic consumers and “beer rejectors”. One strategy that has seen growing success over the course of the last 20 years is offering new products that are sweeter and easier to drink than traditional beer or distilled spirits. These flavored malt beverages, [More]
Retailers will now be required to post tobacco industry “corrective statements” at the point of sale
Starting July 1, 2023, nearly 200,000 tobacco retailers across the country must begin installing signs in their stores with “corrective statements” from the tobacco industry. This is a long-awaited result of a 2006 federal court case ruling in which major tobacco companies were found guilty of racketeering for deliberately misleading the public about the health risks of [More]
Store Assessments: A powerful tool for understanding the retail environment
Marketing and promotions for alcohol and tobacco products saturate retail stores in most communities—the same places where you buy milk, snacks, and medicine. Research has shown that exposure to advertising and promotions for these products have a number of negative health impacts, such as prompting youth initiation, encouraging impulse purchases, and leading to brand preference. [More]
Success story: Kansas high schoolers participate in summer project to learn about the tobacco retail environment
From September 2021 to August 2022, Counter Tools supported the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to address two of their identified priority areas: preventing the initiation of tobacco use among youth and young adults, and addressing tobacco-related health inequities. This included point-of-sale training for KDHE’s Chronic Disease and Risk Reduction community grantees as [More]
The benefits of mapping alcohol outlets
Mapping is a public health tool that has been used for centuries to find patterns, tell stories, and support policies. In 1854, mapping the location of cholera deaths allowed John Snow to identify a pattern and ultimately determine the source of the outbreak. While our technology has greatly improved, the same basic idea of using [More]
Point of sale tobacco marketing photo contest launches October 11
We are excited to announce the dates for CounterTobacco.org's 11th Annual Photo Contest! Each year we host this contest to showcase what's happening in the tobacco retail environment all across the country. These images are crucial to educating the public and furthering the success of state and local tobacco control efforts that seek to reduce tobacco [More]
Counter Tobacco Podcast : Tobacco Point of Sale Preemption (Episode 30)
Earlier this year, along with our partners at ChangeLab Solutions, we published a resource on this topic called the Tobacco Point of Sale Preemption Playbook. It equips tobacco prevention staff and their partners with the knowledge, context, and resources needed to understand how preemption influences their work. In this episode, we talk through some of [More]
Creating tobacco control policies that work toward health equity
Tobacco control policies must be formulated and examined with health equity at the forefront to directly address health inequities among Black Americans and other marginalized communities. Even the best intentioned tobacco product regulation policies may reinforce racism and the inequitable impact on marginalized communities. We must create more effective policies at both the federal and [More]
Counter Tobacco Podcast: Tobacco-Related Assurances of Voluntary Compliance (Episode 29)
In this episode, we provide a primer on tobacco-related Assurance of Voluntary Compliance (AVC), which are legally binding and enforceable agreements between companies (i.e. big tobacco retailers) and one or more states (under each state attorneys general) in which the retailer agrees to adhere to certain standards and practices to reflect their commitment to the [More]
Healthy POS Webinar Series: The Effects of Preemption and Opportunities for Action in Preempted States
Counter Tools hosted a webinar on April 14, 2022 with special guests from Indiana and ChangeLab Solutions. With the introduction of new preemption bills during the pandemic and existing preempted states, tobacco point-of-sale related preemption presents a challenge to policy action and local control. This webinar equipped attendees with information on the basis of preemption using [More]
Counter Tobacco Podcast: Store Assessments (Episode 28)
Store assessments are visits to retail tobacco stores to document and collect data on what tobacco products are being sold and how they are being marketed and promoted in your community. In this episode, learn both why and how to conduct them, as well as how the data you collect can be used. Listen below [More]
Addressing the Off-Campus Tobacco Retail Environment to Enhance Tobacco Free Colleges
Colleges and universities across the country have had success in using policy to protect students from exposure to secondhand smoke on campus. However, these policies do not address the tobacco retail environment immediately off-campus. Considering the off-campus retail environment in tobacco control efforts can be the perfect next step to further protecting the health of college [More]
Tobacco Point of Sale Preemption Playbook
Local governments often lead the way in adopting laws and policies aimed at improving health outcomes and reducing inequities, including point-of-sale commercial tobacco control policies. However, state preemption can thwart local efforts to adopt laws and policies that protect public health and advance health equity. The Tobacco Point of Sale Preemption Playbook, a new resource [More]
