Ontario Tobacco Free Network begins power wall campaign
By Adnews Staff
Toronto-based anti-smoking group the Ontario Tobacco Free Network broke an ad campaign yesterday intended to raise awareness of the health dangers of "power wall" tobacco displays at retail locations in that province. According to the group, these large retail displays are the tobacco industry's last remaining method of direct-to-consumer advertising. The ad campaign communicates the support of the network's members for the elimination of these displays. Print and radio ads are running in Ottawa, London, Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Windsor, Barrie and Toronto. "There can be no doubt of the importance of these displays to the tobacco industry," said Rowena Pinto, manager of the Ontario Tobacco Free Network. "In 2003, the Canadian industry paid retailers across Canada $88 million for in-store promotions like power walls. With the introduction of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, Bill 164, and its potential to impose a complete ban on retail displays, the Ontario Tobacco Free Network has decided to seize the opportunity to inform Ontarians of the detrimental effects of tobacco industry product retail displays." The Ontario Tobacco Free Network is a provincial interagency network made up of the Canadian Cancer Society's Ontario Division, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario and the Ontario Lung Association.