Youth Advocacy Against the Tobacco Industry
Youth are important in the fight against the manipulative and deceptive marketing practices of the tobacco industry! This year in 2023, youth from around the country came together in Washington D.C. to protest an industry that has long influenced them to use deadly tobacco products. During the [More]
We’re partnering with North Carolina in new ways
We are excited to partner with the North Carolina Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch (TPCB) and two tobacco control regions of the state to address health equity through tobacco policy change! Counter Tools is providing training and technical assistance for tobacco prevention programs and community partners to [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 [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 [More]
Healthy POS Webinar Series: Better Conversations about Health Equity and Tobacco POS Strategies
Join Counter Tools for our upcoming Healthy POS Webinar titled "Better Conversations about Health Equity and Tobacco POS Strategies." In this webinar, Dr. Julie Sweetland (FrameWorks Institute) will help attendees understand effective ways to message about health equity from a tobacco perspective, and best practices to support [More]
We’re hiring a Project Director!
Counter Tools invites applications for a Project Director position. The Project Director provides timely and high-quality project management, training, and technical assistance to Counter Tools client-partners working to advance place-based public health. Their national perspective and expertise strengthens Counter Tools’ position as a trusted thought leader in, and [More]
Letter in Support of Rules to Prohibit Menthol Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars
Dear Senator or Representative: We write to express our strong support for proposed rules that the Food and Drug Administration has issued to prohibit the manufacture and sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. FDA’s proposals will substantially improve public health by reducing youth tobacco use, preventing [More]
Alcohol industry profits from marketing to underage buyers
It’s easy to find data on all sorts of consumer trends in alcoholic beverages, from insights on how the pandemic impacted sales to what products are gaining popularity, often with breakdowns by age, gender, and other demographic information. One data point you won’t see represented in these [More]
Counter Tools celebrates our 10th anniversary
As Counter Tools celebrates our 10th anniversary, we’re reflecting on the partnerships that sparked community change in the retail environment and looking forward to our ambitious goals to address health equity and empower communities to become healthier places for all. Where we’ve been Over the past decade, [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 [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, [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 [More]
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Client-Partner Feedback Survey
Our mission at Counter Tools is to empower communities to become healthier places for all. We are asking for feedback from our client-partners on ways we can, in service to our mission, better support statewide and local-level goals related to equity, diversity, and inclusion. The survey results [More]
CDC releases new mapping techniques best practice supplement
Maps are a valuable tool for understanding community trends, visualizing disparities, identifying gaps in program and policy implementation, educating decision makers, and evaluating interventions. In expanding upon the evidence-based recommendations in the CDC’s Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs–2014, the Center for Public Health Systems Science [More]
Webinar – Assessing and Engaging the Tobacco Retailer Environment
On November 15th at 3:00PM EST, National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) will conduct a webinar in partnership with Counter Tools on assessing and engaging with the tobacco retailer environment at the state and local level. According to the CDC, there are over 375,000 [More]
Call to action on home delivery of alcohol by USPS
Counter Tools joins the American Public Health Association’s Alcohol Action Network in urging congressional action on home delivery of alcohol by the US Postal Service. By law, the US Postal Service is prohibited from shipping alcohol under U.S. Legal Code 18 § 1716. But a new bill [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 [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 [More]
Healthy Active Communities Virtual Conference Sept 14-15
Counter Tools staff will be presenting at the Healthy Active Communities Conference September 14-15. HACC will be a place to learn about policies & systems changes related to health equity & nutrition security with a weight-inclusive lens. Healthy Active Communities sets out to explore and expand conversations [More]
Webinar – Innovative Local Solutions in Public Health
We recently hosted a webinar with CADCA GHEA about local-level policy solutions in Maryland and California. These efforts advanced policies relating to alcohol and healthy food. We often see innovative policy solutions tested first at the local-level. In this webinar, you’ll learn about alcoholic beverage regulations in [More]
