• Hit shopper footfall and, as a consequence, retail sales
• Encourage illegal sales
• Distort competition
• Be impractical to operate
• Increase retail costs
• Remove the freedom of consumer choice
Deirdre Healy, Imperial’s corporate affairs manager, said: “Restricted display on tobacco products is a daft proposal.
“We are fundamentally opposed to any restrictions on the display of products in retail outlets.
“Every consumer is entitled to see product and make an informed choice. We will absolutely defend the right of the retail trade to display the goods they have and show the prices.”
Imperial Tobacco was preempting the consultation process put forward by public health minister Dawn Primarolo and scheduled to begin in May.
Along with the display ban, proposals include banning pack sizes of fewer than 20 products and restrictions on vending.
Healy said Imperial also opposed the ban on smaller pack sizes, which account for 20% of the UK market.
Imperial said a similar ban, introduced in Ireland in May 2007, has lost shopper footfall, sales and impulse purchases but grown the ‘grey’ market.
Imperial said display bans, introduced in Iceland in 2001 and in some Canadian states from 2002, were not having any impact either with zero effect on illegal sales, while retailers have to bear the compliance cost.
Healy added retailers have also raised concerns about knock on effects of a display ban including theft from other categories, when shop keepers turn around or bend down to retrieve products, plus health and safety issues.
Freedom of consumer choice was also at risk, said Healy. “What type of society do we live in if we deny the right of adult consumers to make an informed choice about legal fmcg products?”
Imperial warned a display ban could also set a precedent for other categories such as alcohol.
Healy urged the government to ensure any future legislation in the tobacco category was “evidence based” but added this was not always the case, citing a House of Lords’ report on risk management which had criticised the government’s introduction of the smoking ban in England and Wales.
“[We] must be given a fair hearing,” said Healy, “and the proposals should be simply kicked into touch.”
By Fiona Briggs
