Sainsbury’s and Morrisons under pressure to pull tobacco adverts
The government has written to Sainsbury's and Morrisons urging them to stop "advertising and promoting" heated tobacco products, which it says is illegal.
The government has written to Sainsbury’s and Morrisons urging them to stop “advertising and promoting” heated tobacco products, which it says is illegal.
The letter follows a BBC report in February that the grocers were using video screens and posters featuring devices that created a nicotine-containing vapour through heating tobacco using an electric current.
Both retailers said they thought the adverts were legal at the time, the BBC reported.
The Labour government passed a law in 2002 that banned tobacco adverts, defining a tobacco product as something designed to be “smoked, sniffed, sucked or chewed”.
Morrisons has claimed that this means it does not apply to heated tobacco products since these do not create smoke.
Adverts for iQos heated tobacco devices from Philip Morris International (PMI) across video screens and posters were still being displayed in both supermarkets’ stores visited by the BBC back in June.
However, PMI said it thought the Department of Health’s interpretation of the law was incorrect, and insisted that it had “complied with all applicable laws and regulations” since the product’s launch in 2016.
The government has now written to Sainsbury’s and Morrisons confirming that the law does apply to these items, in its opinion.
Related Story
Speaking to the BBC, a department of health and social care spokesperson said: “In May, we wrote to supermarkets reiterating that the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002… applies to all tobacco products currently on the market, and formally requested they stop advertising and promoting heated tobacco products in stores.
“All tobacco products are harmful to health.”
A Morrisons spokesperson said that the supermarket was reviewing the letter and would reply “in due course”.
Sainsbury’s said its adverts complied with the law, with a spokesperson adding: “We remain in close contact with the government and industry partners and are planning our transition to ensure we also comply with planned incoming legislation.”
It would be down to a court to definitively rule whether the government is correct that heated tobacco adverts are banned under current law, however nobody has brought a case so far.
The law will be confirmed when government passes the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which is anticipated to conclusively ban all vape and tobacco adverts and sponsorship.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
