Hide and seek.. Will playing games appeal to underage smokers?

Following recent legislation tobacco displays will be banned from shops. This is another government attempt at cutting down on the number of smokers in England. The last initiative worked- as far encouraging people to quit smoking and protecting the health of non- smokers goes. The smoking ban DID however have a massive impact on small business’s, especially on pub trade. As the smoking ban was enforced pubs have lost trade.

And with the news laws to ban all tobacco displays plenty more small businesses feel that this will cut their sales so significantly that it will cause them to struggle.

It has been questioned whether this is a good time to bring in the new laws. The country is in recession and small businesses need as much help as they can get as many of them battle through the current economic crisis.

But, I feel that regardless of the pubs that have lost out since the smoking ban, and the shops that will probably lose out due to the ban of tobacco displays. The nations health should surely be the government’s first priority.

They feel that the ban will prevent children from smoking. As there will be no point of sale advertising. I have my doubts about how effective it will be as many children choose to smoke because its dangerous and risky, and the fact that it is frowned upon (for good reasons) by many adults makes it ‘cool’. I worry whether hiding tobacco products might increase the appeal for children. Children may now feel that smoking is an even greater risk of rebellion.