Daniel J. Robinson

Changes in Retail Tobacco Promotions in a Cohort of Stores Before, During, and After a Tobacco Product Display Ban

We used a longitudinal design to investigate the impact of a government policy banning the display of tobacco products at the point of sale. The extent of tobacco promotions in 481 randomly selected stores was documented at 4 points in time (2005-2009). Tobacco promotions were greatly reduced after implementation of the display ban. A ban on the display of tobacco products and other signage and promotions at retail is a critical tobacco-control policy to reduce peoples exposure to tobacco marketing.

KEEPING THE POINT-OF-SALE ENVIRONMENT AT THE FOREFRONT

Husten’s editorial on smoking cessation in young adults highlights the need for the public health community to support young adults’ quit attempts through environmental changes, including increasing tobacco prices, encouraging smoke-free public places, workplaces, and homes, and improving coverage of cessation interventions.1 One important initiative missing from this list is restricting tobacco promotions at the retail point-of-sale (POS). The tobacco industry spends more money on POS promotions than on all other forms of cigarette marketing combined.2 Tobacco promotions at retail outlets provide product cues to would-be starters and would-be quitters, and may present relapse challenges for the latter group.3–5 While restricting POS promotions may seem daunting given its pervasiveness, some jurisdictions have been successful in doing so.

Sex, Crime, Pathology: Homosexuality and Criminal Code Reform in Canada, 1949–1969.

This paper examines legal, political, and social processes culminating in the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada in 1969. While it explores gay activism, international developments, liberalizing social attitudes, and the problem of long-standing anomalies in the Criminal Code, the papers primary focus is on the re-conceptualization of homosexuality from a legal-criminal paradigm to a medical-scientific one and its impact on eventual decriminalization. In this vein, Foucaultian theory is used to illustrate how advancing psychiatric discourse on homosexuality affected social and legal understandings of same-sex attraction from World War II until the 1970s. As psychiatric and psychological professionals broadened their authority into wider areas of sexual practices and identities, they provided reformers and parliamentarians with an interpretative framework to disassociate homosexuality from criminality. While partially legalized in 1969, homosexuality remained firmly “pathological,” thus entailing a continued, if reconfigured, “governing” presence in some of the nations bedrooms for years afterwards.

Lottery Promotions at the Point-of-Sale in Ontario, Canada

We documented the extent of point-of-sale (POS) lottery promotions in Ontario, Canada and the relationship between lottery promotions and store and city characteristics. This is the first quantitative study of POS lottery promotions. A total of 366 stores—independent and chain convenience stores, gas stations and grocery stores—were visited across 20 cities in Ontario. Data collectors unobtrusively observed the type of lottery promotions in each store and completed a data collection checklist. A lottery promotion index was created and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was conducted to examine the relationship between extent of lottery promotions and independent variables such as neighbourhood socioeconomic status and city prevalence of lottery ticket purchasing. POS lottery promotions were widespread across Ontario, with the highest level of promotion found in independent convenience stores. In the multivariable HLM model, none of the remaining independent variables remained statistically significant, except for store type. Lottery promotions are extensive at the POS in Ontario. These findings can help initiate discussions around the appropriateness and possible future regulation of this form of advertising.

Mail-Order Doctors and Market Research, 1890–1930

In 1910, James Rainey and Louen V. Atkins operated the “Dr. Rainey Medicine Company” in Chicago, a mail-order patent medicine company selling Vitaline, a cure-all for conditions like catarrh and “blood troubles.” The company’s ads ran in low-cost magazines and rural weeklies. After a series of business disputes, Rainey left the partnership and opened a rival operation in the same building called “Dr. James M. Rainey, incorporated.” The similar names created confusion, resulting in Atkins cashing a customer’s money order most likely intended for Rainey’s new operation. When Rainey demanded the return of this payment, Atkins accused him of poaching the customer’s name from the mailing list of their former partnership. Rainey countered that the name had come from a list purchased from a “letter broker,” agents who bought and sold customer letters sent to patent medicine firms. An argument erupted and violence ensued, culminating in Rainey shooting and killing his former business partner. Fortunately for Rainey, a jury later acquitted him, citing self-defense. During court proceedings, it was revealed that Rainey and Atkins, both jointly and separately, had dealt with letter brokers, in the process buying and selling thousands of names, addresses, and—in some cases—the actual letters of people corresponding with proprietary medicine firms. While a common industry practice by 1910, the case, an American Medical Association official maintained, still managed to shine a “search-light of publicity into the dark and noisome pit of quackery.”