25 November 2009

I had the chance to listen to the industry on Thursday 19 November. Dave Bryans, President of Canada's Convenience Store Association and former Executive of RJ Reynolds, spoke to the New Zealand Association of Convenience Stores in Auckland. With around 150 or so delegates, Stamford Plaza was swarming with tobacco company reps amongst franchised convenience store management. Imperial Tobacco was also there, as were Coca Cola, Mobil and Shell.

In Canada, Bryans said, the four drivers for convenience stores were lottery tickets, tobacco, petrol and alcohol. Canada has five million smokers, representing only 19 percent of the population (we're at 21 percent). Tobacco accounts for 35-70 percent, or on average half, of all convenience store sales.

Here's what Bryans pitched to his audience.

"'Health do-gooders' [that's us] set out to de-normalise decent folks. They push tobacco use out of the charmed circle of normal desirable practice, to being an abnormal practice."

That's correct, I thought, but then Bryans told his audience that retailers were being demonised for selling the product, and retailers have done nothing but comply with the law.

"'Health do-gooders'" are creating laws that hurt poor retailers, and don't work for dropping smoking prevalence either."

That's all not true, I kept thinking. In fact, Bryans painted a completely false picture of retailers AND the health sector in Canada.

"We have to understand what advocacy is," Bryans shook a finger. "Don't fool yourselves; these people will bulldoze your store to stop you... Understand, you haven't won, don't fool yourself... they never give up on their mission."

"'Health do-gooders' are not like Us," Bryans claimed. "Us, we shake hands, do a deal, go home and have dinner with the wife. Not these people, they're like nuns and priests."

Canada's tobacco control community has a very similar vision for 2020 to the Smokefree Coalition here in New Zealand. Bryans estimated there was a tobacco retailer in Canada for every 1400 of the population. He even called that "saturation" for Canada. In New Zealand we have around one store for every 800 smokers!

He painted a bleak picture, using Saskatchewan and Ontario as examples of tobacco retail display ban law gone terribly wrong. He warned that this was what New Zealand's Government could easily buy into. We 'health do-gooders' would sell the Government false estimates of teen smoking being greatly reduced with this measure.

Bryans urged retailers to unionise and collectivise. "Engage with councillors, mayors and MPs," he encouraged. "Tell them about Canada. Prepare yourselves to influence them when the time comes here in New Zealand."

I agree retailers should unionise and, in fact, they are in New Zealand. So if legislation looks like it might change here on tobacco retail display, I imagine we'll have a bit of a slanging match in the media. We will be cast as 'health do-gooders', demonising these poor retailers among local communities. The image is ridiculous, but that doesn't mean it won't be believed by many.

But our eyes have to stay on the prize. If retailers do collectivise over this issue, the Smokefree Coalition should support Government liaison with any new retailers' nationwide network. You know, I think it would be awesome to get a retailers' association amongst our membership!

Take care,

Prudence Stone, Director,
Smokefree Coalition