A few days ago, the China Controlled Smoking Association held a press conference, which released the results of the survey on the sales behavior of 741 tobacco sales outlets in 8 cities and 10 counties/towns in China. According to the survey results, up to 57.6% of the tobacco sales outlets did not set a mark prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to minors (hereinafter referred to as the banned sale mark). Compared with three years ago, the number of tobacco advertisements and promotional activities also increased significantly.

According to the survey results, up to 63.7% of tobacco sales outlets found tobacco advertisements, and tobacco advertisements in tobacco stores in cities and counties/towns ranked first, significantly higher than supermarkets and convenience stores. Among the 8 cities surveyed, 64.9% of the sales outlets found tobacco advertisements.

In the city and county/town surveys, up to 57.6% of tobacco sales outlets were found to have no signs prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to minors. In addition, 3.9% of the tobacco outlets in 8 cities found that young people entered the store to buy cigarettes; 2.7% of the sales points were located within 50 meters of the primary and secondary schools. In the 10 county/town survey, 23% of the sales outlets were selling electronic cigarettes.

As early as May 2016, the China Controlled Smoking Association surveyed tobacco advertisements in 11 cities in 11 provinces. By comparison, it was found that tobacco advertising in the city tobacco sales point in 2016 was significantly higher than that in 2016. In 2019, 64.9% of the sales outlets found tobacco advertising, an increase of 19.2 percentage points from 45.7% in 2016. In 2019, compared with the 2016 urban tobacco sales point, the promotion behavior increased significantly. The two survey specialty stores ranked first, followed by supermarkets and convenience stores.

Liao Wenke, vice president of China Tobacco Control Association, said: "I was surprised by the results of this survey. The newly revised "Advertising Law" was promulgated for four years. In 2019, there were more than 60% of tobacco sales outlets with tobacco advertising. Compared with three years ago, it has increased by nearly 20%, indicating that there are quite a few tobacco stores that ignore the national laws prohibiting tobacco advertising and are still publishing tobacco advertisements in various ways, which also reflects the prohibition of tobacco advertising enforcement in some places. "No action." Liao Wenke pointed out that the "Law on the Protection of Minors" has long made the "business operator should set a sign that not selling cigarettes and alcohol to minors in a prominent position", but there are still so many businesses, ignoring The national law stipulates that there is no sign prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to minors. Explain that these tobacco sales shops have no awareness of prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to minors, and there must be hidden dangers or behaviors of selling cigarettes to minors. It is also necessary to strengthen supervision and effectively cut off the prohibition of selling cigarettes to minors. A source of tobacco that teens try to smoke.

Researcher Xiao Lin of the Center for Tobacco Control of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention pointed out that tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship activities have greatly enhanced the image of tobacco companies, misleading the public, weakening the willingness of smokers to quit, and opening up markets for increasing tobacco consumption. Especially for adolescents, a large number of studies have shown that tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship activities can greatly increase the likelihood of adolescents starting to smoke.