THE ban on the open display of tobacco products was much criticised when it was introduced in 2012 in England and Wales and 2013 in Scotland, but new research seems to show that the ban is working, at least for teenagers.

A new Stirling University study shows that the risk of 11 to 16-year-olds taking up smoking has reduced following the ban, with susceptibility falling from 28% pre-ban to 23% mid-ban, and 18% post-ban.

The university stated: “The research also found that, for that age group, the implementation of the policy was followed by reduced cigarette brand awareness; it made cigarettes seem unappealing; and made smoking seem unacceptable.”

Published in the British Medical Journal’s Tobacco Control and funded by Cancer Research UK, the study also identified extremely high support for a display ban amongst young people.

Lead author Dr Allison Ford, from Stirling’s Institute for Social Marketing, said: “This is the first study to show the impacts of a tobacco point-of-sale display ban on young people across the UK before, during and after implementation.

“Both partial and full implementation of the display ban were followed by statistically significant reductions in youth smoking susceptibility and noticing cigarettes at point-of-sale.”

“Our work confirms that placing tobacco out of sight helps safeguard young people. Our findings help to justify this policy approach in the UK and elsewhere.”

Previous research has shown that point-of-sale displays are used by tobacco companies to attract and communicate with consumers, hence the UK-wide cover-up.

Kruti Shrotri, Cancer Research UK’s tobacco control manager, said: “Glitzy displays and glamorous packaging helped the tobacco industry to lure the next generation of smokers into taking up a deadly addiction. But contrary to Big Tobacco’s belief that banning displays would make no difference this study shows that by putting cigarettes out of sight and out of mind far fewer youngsters are taking up the deathly habit.”