Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 455, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2011 Nov 8;11:848. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-848.
In California, some 40,000 retailers sell tobacco products. Tobacco's ubiquitousness in retail settings normalizes use and cues smoking urges among former smokers and those attempting cessation. Thus, limiting the number of retailers is regarded as key to ending the tobacco epidemic. In the past decade, independent pharmacies and local grocery chains in California and elsewhere have voluntarily abandoned tobacco sales. No previous studies have examined the reasons for this emerging phenomenon. We sought to learn what motivated retailers to discontinue tobacco sales and what employees and customers thought about their decision.
We conducted case studies of seven California retailers (three grocery stores, four pharmacies) that had voluntarily ceased tobacco sales within the past 7 years. We interviewed owners, managers, and employees, conducted consumer focus groups, unobtrusively observed businesses and the surrounding environment, and examined any media coverage of each retailer's decision. We analyzed data using qualitative content analysis.
For independent pharmacies, the only reason given for the decision to end tobacco sales was that tobacco caused disease and death. Grocers listed health among several factors, including regulatory pressures and wanting to be seen as "making a difference." Media coverage of stores' new policies was limited, and only three retailers alerted customers. Management reported few or no customer complaints and supportive or indifferent employees. Pharmacy employees were pleased to no longer be selling a deadly product. Grocery store management saw the decision to end tobacco sales as enhancing the stores' image and consistent with their inventory of healthy foods. Focus group participants (smokers and nonsmokers) were largely unaware that retailers had stopped selling tobacco; however, almost all supported the decision, viewing it as promoting public health. Many said knowing this made them more likely to shop at the store. Most thought that advertising the store's policy was essential to generate good public relations and tobacco norm changes.
Voluntary retailer abandonment of tobacco sales both reflects and extends social norm changes that have problematized tobacco in California. Our findings suggest that such voluntary initiatives by retailers are welcomed by consumers and should be publicized, enhancing public health efforts.
在加利福尼亚州，约有 4 万家零售商销售烟草制品。烟草在零售环境中的无处不在使前吸烟者和试图戒烟者的吸烟冲动正常化。因此，限制零售商的数量被认为是结束烟草流行的关键。在过去的十年中，加利福尼亚州和其他地方的独立药店和当地杂货店连锁店已自愿放弃烟草销售。以前没有研究探讨过这种新出现的现象的原因。我们试图了解促使零售商停止销售烟草的原因，以及员工和顾客对这一决定的看法。
我们对过去 7 年内自愿停止销售烟草的 7 家加利福尼亚州零售商（3 家杂货店、4 家药店）进行了案例研究。我们采访了店主、经理和员工，进行了消费者焦点小组讨论，对企业和周围环境进行了不显眼的观察，并研究了每家零售商决定的任何媒体报道。我们使用定性内容分析方法分析数据。
对于独立药店，停止销售烟草的唯一原因是烟草会导致疾病和死亡。杂货店列出了健康等几个因素，包括监管压力和希望被视为“有所作为”。商店新政策的媒体报道有限，只有三家零售商提醒了顾客。管理层报告说几乎没有或没有顾客投诉，员工表示支持或漠不关心。药店员工很高兴不再销售致命产品。杂货店管理层认为，停止销售烟草可以提升商店形象，与他们销售健康食品的库存一致。焦点小组参与者（吸烟者和不吸烟者）大多不知道零售商已经停止销售烟草；然而，几乎所有人都支持这一决定，认为这有利于公共健康。许多人表示，了解这一点使他们更有可能在商店购物。大多数人认为，宣传商店的政策对于树立良好的公共关系和改变烟草规范至关重要。
零售商自愿放弃烟草销售既反映了也扩展了加利福尼亚州使烟草问题化的社会规范变化。我们的研究结果表明，零售商的此类自愿举措受到消费者的欢迎，应该加以宣传，以增强公共卫生工作。
