Western NC GASP has targeted a local supermarket chain, Ingles, to reduce and/or eliminate their marketing of tobacco products. Here is a sample letter that can also be used with other supermarket chains in your area:
-Your Name Here-
1234 No. Tobacco Rd.
Fresh Air, USA
Robert Ingle
Chairman of the Board
Ingles Markets
Box 6676
Asheville, NC 28816
Dear Mr. Ingle:
Congratulations on your excellent 1st quarter results. It looks like Ingles Markets is well on its way to another excellent year.
As a parent and customer, I am concerned about an issue that directly affects Ingles on an issue where the awareness of the general public is dramatically increasing.
These are the facts according to the World Health Organization and various
government agencies:
(1) Cigarettes are a "nicotine delivery system". The main reason people smoke is to get nicotine into their bodies; and nicotine is chemically similar to such drugs as cocaine. Nicotine travels to the brain about 8 to 10 seconds after a smoker inhales and "alters the state of the smoker". Nicotine mimics the body’s most crucial neurotransmitter, acetycholine (ACH), which controls heart rate and message sending to the brain.
Cigarette smoke causes the premature death of 435,000 Americans each year.
(2) Nicotine, the drug in tobacco, is as addictive as heroin or cocaine.
(3) Tobacco kills 3,000,000 people worldwide each year. It is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the developed world. Cigarettes kill nearly 500,000 people in the US each year...more than heroin, cocaine, and all other illicit drugs, auto accidents, homicides, and suicides combined.
(4) Worldwide, tobacco causes about 90% of lung cancer deaths, 30% of all cancers, 20-25% of coronary heart diseases, and more than 80% of chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
(5) After declining every year for 25 years, US smoking rates began to rise in 1994. More than 3000 US teens become regular smokers each day, with girls smoking at a higher rate than boys.
(6) Approximately 60% of smokers start before the age of 14 and 90% before age 21.
(7) The tobacco industry’s campaign to discourage teenage smoking actually encourages youth tobacco use. By leaving out health dangers, ignoring addiction, and glamorizing smoking as an "adult custom", these companies reinforce the industry’s advertising theme presenting smoking as a way for children to exert independence and be grown up. The Tobacco Institute is helping youth say "yes" to tobacco.
I hope you will consider not selling tobacco products in your stores. By doing so, Ingles is consciously selling products that addict and kill people. In addition, the company is subjecting itself to possible liability suits as a purveyor of these instruments of death and disease.
I understand if you take the approach of phasing out the sale of tobacco products in lieu of an immediate cessation.
Several things you can do now include:
Your company has the oppourtunity to be a leader in the food retailing field relating to this issue. In the long run this will help Ingles sales & profits while reducing liability exposure.
I would appreciate it if you would get back to me with the company’s position on this matter. I am willing to meet with you, the Board and/or the officers of Ingles to discuss this further if need be.
Very Truly Yours,
-Your Name Here-