Remember when fags and tobacco was ON DISPLAY?

[sf1378]

Lol....its ridiculous. I was in Sainsburys on Wednesday and did see the blinds down on nearly all the displays at the kiosk in the distance and wondered why...I think its just stupid...

[darren]

i do think its a good idea if it stops people being influenced to start smoking.
this is one idea i do agree with.

[DemonEyeX]

Interesting idea at least,
I'd like to see the stats in a few years to see if it works at all.

[sf1378]

We may as well cover all the food up in supermarkets so it prevents people from becoming fat. Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?

[Sly]

I've never been influenced to start smoking, despite cigarettes and cigars being advertised and around me all the time when I was impressionable. People who want to smoke are going to smoke regardless of the visibility of smokes and no matter how expensive they get, people that want them will get hold of them. I think it's stupid. Like, highly stupid. That's the way legislation and laws are going unfortunately.

[Retrogames]

An old neighbour of mine was 'minorly successful popstar from ten years ago' Badly Drawn Boy. When he signed his first record contract he was chuffed as he said he could finally afford to take up smoking as he could afford it! Bet it costs a bomb now.

One of the few ways we have our taxation system right is the tax on smoking IMO.

[battyrat]

I gave up smoking about 5 years ago.The hardest thing I have ever done.It was not the packaging that tempted me in the first place to smoke but peer pressure from other people my own age and being with the "in gang" at the time.

I feel this is the same reason that many young people start to smoke is not to be left out and to become more a part of whats going on around them.Packaging may have little to do with it.But if it helps to cut down the amount of new people smoking then it's a foot in the right direction.

[darren]

well done mate by the way.

well if not putting them on display can even stop a few from smoking it will be worth it.

but yes eer pressure has a lot to answer for when it comes to smoking and not wanting to be lerft out.

everyone i knew smoked but i was never influenced to do it.



I gave up smoking about 5 years ago.The hardest thing I have ever done.It was not the packaging that tempted me in the first place to smoke but peer pressure from other people my own age and being with the "in gang" at the time.

I feel this is the same reason that many young people start to smoke is not to be left out and to become more a part of whats going on around them.Packaging may have little to do with it.But if it helps to cut down the amount of new people smoking then it's a foot in the right direction.

[sf1378]

Sly's hit the point home I was raising. The Govt's out of sight/mind idea behind this, like a lot of their ideas is stupid...I've actually seen a lot of newsagents still displaying their stock as normal....good for them.

I wasn't influenced to ever start smoking by anyone, but I do and still do, even after my Father got emphysema - when he was okay, his face would light up when he'd ask me for a fag after ages of not having one and then having that first draw on it...simple pleasures and all that.

I agree with the taxation levied on tobacco but it does annoy me as well - if hand rolling tobacco cost skyrockets then I will quit for good. I did get sick of factory pre-mades as the stench/taste was horrid - more chemicals and then there was the cost/daily trudge out to get a pack of 20....rollies are more cost effective on the whole lasting a lot longer - and thats both the pack itself and the slow burn of the rollie...

[HG]

Sly's hit the point home I was raising. The Govt's out of sight/mind idea behind this, like a lot of their ideas is stupid...I've actually seen a lot of newsagents still displaying their stock as normal....good for them.




The new rules only apply to large retailers for the moment, all retailers will have to follow them in a couple of years.

[battyrat]

Makes you wonder just how far this is going to go,soon it may be that you won't be able to smoke in any public place including the street.The gov do seem to be driving the habbit into the shadows with every new anti smoking law they pass.
I can remember possibly some talk of tobacco becomming a prescription only drug many years ago.It may of just been drunk pub talk with some mates at the time.But it does make you wonder where this is going.

The smaller reatillers are the next step in trying to stop young people from smoking I think in 2014,but cannot seeing it stopping there.Tobacco product packaging will become boring to look at and rather bland as it will become less important for selling the brand visually on the shelf if customers cannot see it.The only way the tobacco companys can go is by making larger cheaper fags or better quality fags to compete with each other for more customers.It will become a luxury only market like quality cigars are today.

One thing has crossed my mind,without brand advertising new smokers possibly won't know many brands of tobacco if they can't see it on the shelf,so brand names may be passed around by word of mouth,so eventually only the most popular brands may survive this.

We live in interesting times.

[sf1378]

I've often mused over the future of smoking - giant 'Smokatoriams' with air filters sucking up the smoke and pumping in clean air...bit like the 'Speak Easy's' of Prohibition Era America...I'm sure I saw something like it in a very old 2000AD Judge Dredd story...

I find it all rather pathetic - this hard line on smoking. As a smoker I'm in a sense an advocate of it. Perhaps the Govt should tackle obesity with the same tack: laws and statutes should be passed so that fat people cannot buy certain foods: cream cakes, cream, sugar, chips, etc, etc, etc...Perhaps all 'fatty foods' should be hidden from view?

Its ridiculous...We may as well all be wearing burkhas, or veil entire stores under tarp...

[battyrat]

I remember the smokariams?,(Is that what they called them?) in 2000 AD comic especially when Dredd chases a bad guy into one who quickly dies of nicotine and smoke inhalation.The smokers all wore protective helmets so they could breath.The air outside was poisonous.More mispent youth....2000 AD comics,but a long time ago now.

In a way I can agree with the gov on the smoking thing as an ex smoker myself,but on the other hand I find this nanny state,and big brother is watching you thing very frightening and sufforcating.Too many times I feel as if the line has been crossed especially in recent years with the freedom of choice being eroded.

I think there is often a big diffrence between non smokers,smokers,and ex smokers.If you would of asked me 6-7 years ago as a 40-50 a day smoker I would of said that it was my choice and nobody elses if I smoked or not,including when and where.Like all smokers I was horrified when they banned smoking in pubs and the workplace as I was still smoking at that time.In a way I suppose I would still be right if I said the same thing,that it is a freedom of choice decision.But years later after quitting I also feel that its wrong to make other people breath in someone elses smoke even if they are just passing in the street or clearing up the dog ends left outside work in the gutter on a daily basis.As a smoker I felt that it was my right to do as I pleased when I wanted to,but now I feel that I was rather selfish to smoke near my younger brothers and sister and nethews and nieces.I've stood on all sides of the fence on this one...and still feel that in this one single case the government may just be doing something right for once.

Perhaps you are right and the 2000 AD comic is predicting the future with dedicated smoking places set up in certain low key areas of towns.Star trek and captain kirk proved right with their communication device and our mobile phones are close matches.And many things that was taken as sci-fi years ago have parrallels in real life now,so perhaps that is the future of smoking in public...by taking it away from the public gaze in general.Intersting times indeed.

[Pussywillow]

Lets lock up the booze next.

Then the sweets.

And then watch the Government moan about the fall in taxes on such goods.

[Sly]

I don't smoke. I will never smoke. I have to say that in pubs it knocked a hell of a lot of fun out of them when they imposed the smoking ban. I think if you are going to a pub, you have to expect and tolerate people smoking. I don't like smoke where people are eating, but I think it's totally fine in pubs and clubs where you are not sitting to eat a cooked meal. Here in the USA a lot of places have glass walls between the places where you eat and drink, so that smokers don't have to go outside. It works.

[battyrat]

That's what I missed the most as a smoker was smoking in the pub.A pint was never the same again once smoking in pubs was banned.And the atmosphere died at the same time.It's also when I stopped going out on the town for a good night.It just wasn't the same anymore.

I expect the gov has already planned for a loss of money for the tax they impose on tobacco.I sometimes wonder if its why they hiked up the vat or put the tax on hot pies.Will this blanket ban on tobacco advertising really save the gov money on medical expenses?...only time will tell.But like many people many so called tobacco related illnesses could actually be more work related like the inhalation of certain glue fumes and fiber glass dust that gave me chronic breathing problems years ago.At the time my doctor said it was smoking.But when I was off sick with it it would clear up a bit,the it totally cleared up after I left the company dispite still smoking at that time.

[Richard1978]

Most of the recent tighening up on smoking is due to the medical profession having to deal with smoking related illness. So any fall of in tax revenue will be conterbalanced by having to spend less on the health service.

I'm lucky that no-one in my family has smoked in my lifetime so I've never had any insentive to smoke.

[sf1378]

What I really hate about the new law on smoking outside a cafe or bar etc is when some prat tuts loudly or makes a big song and dance and moves to another seat - if they're a non smoker, they have the option of inside or out, me, as a smoker can only have a drink/snack/mean AND a fag - OUTSIDE. I usually make an equally rude reaction to these prats...

My Mum used to say that oneday, because apparently ALL FOOD, ALL DRINK ETC is bad, we'll eventually have to live off our own wee and poo - :eek: and then they'll say thats bad too...

I think they should either repeal the laws on smoking inside a pub etc, or allow certain places to have the option to have smoking inside - that said, they'd probably make them pay for a 'smoking licence'...I hate the Govt. All of em...

[battyrat]

I have to agree there about certain places should be allowed to have smoking even if a licence has to be granted to allow it.Pubs would be a start and would happily pay if it was reasonable and would generate them more trade as well as night clubs.Even if it just covered adult type venues.I expect people to smoke in pubs and clubs they always have and the smoke was always a part of the atmosphere in those places.

[HG]

I love that as a non smoker I can now go out for a night out and not return home reeking of smoke, so the smoking ban in public places should stay in my opinion. Also I don't think having smoking areas inside venues is the answer either as having the smokers in a confined soace would generate a health hazard to staff members of the venue.

[Richard1978]

I love that as a non smoker I can now go out for a night out and not return home reeking of smoke, so the smoking ban in public places should stay in my opinion. Also I don't think having smoking areas inside venues is the answer either as having the smokers in a confined soace would generate a health hazard to staff members of the venue.

Same here, I used to used Fabreze on my clothes after most nights out to get rid of the smell of smoke, even when I was no-where near anyone who was smoking.

It was interesting to read in Smoke-friendly Japan they recently introduced a card that has to be inserted into vending machines before cigarettes could be bought.

The idea was to prevent underage smoking, but a number of adult smokers have started to give up because the process of getting a card is too much of a hastle.

[darren]

I love that as a non smoker I can now go out for a night out and not return home reeking of smoke, so the smoking ban in public places should stay in my opinion. Also I don't think having smoking areas inside venues is the answer either as having the smokers in a confined soace would generate a health hazard to staff members of the venue.

i must agree with u here mate.
hope im not going off topic but i remember back in the eighties my bro who is not a smoler when he came home from a night out when he came home the smoke on his clothes near choked me.
so if the smoking ban works why cant the non display of fegs not work.

give it time and i feel it will work.
if it even stops one person smoking its worked.

[Paulos]

Locking up and hiding away the cigarettes is fine by me, as a now non-smoker I don't care either way. BUT, will this just make kids think that there is something special being hid away from them? Will it actually just make them even more curious?