Play Meter

- -rE LAST WORD Where'd you buy those? T here are many issues on which I straddle the fence, unsure of my position . Some are of great societal magnitude, like abortion and the death penalty. Others are trivial-the merits of thick vs. thin pizza crust, should relief pitchers be eligible for the Cy Young Award, that sort of thing. I do not, however, waffle on the subject of cigarettes. They are, in a word, nasty. Aside from the foul smell and irritating smoke, cigarettes are extremely unhealthy. I shake my head in amazement when I see someone light up one cancer stick after another, oblivious to the hazards. Sure, sure, I know all the lines. "I've tried, butljustcan'tquit." "I'vegottadie of something.'' ''You 're some do-gooder telling me how to lead my life. Go find another crusade. ' ' (Our art director, Jane Nisbet, has all kinds of excuses for smoking. Smokers on the defensive should call her for a few creative ones.) Yet despite these feelings, I find myself in the odd position of opposing those who would ban or severely curtail access to cigarette vending machines. It isn't because I write for a coin-op trade magazine that includes cigarette vending under its umbrella. If the industry came out in support of wife-beating, I wouldn't suddenly go on a pummelling spree. Rather, I support cigarette vendors because they are being unfairly targeted. If Health Secretary Louis Sullivan held a press conference to announce that, in his 152 PLAY METER/July 1990 opinion, all cigarettes should be banned from the market, I'd applaud him. But he hasn't done that. He and other politicians come out with tough rhetoric on the damaging link between cigarette machines and America's youth. When have you heard them focus their energies on stores that sell cigarettes to minors over the counter? About as often as they keep their campaign promises, I'd say. Ban proponents conveniently overlook the fact that only a small percentage of teenagers buy their smokes from vending machines. In fact, a host of studies indicates that keeping kids away from their friends and parents would dry-up the source. "Sorry, Frankie, but we're shipping you off to solitary confinement. I know you'll miss us, but we're doing it for your own good! Can't get no cigarettes where you're going, son!" Seriously, there is data which would support the claims of cigarette vendors. Richard Funk, chief counsel of the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA), cited the following statistics at a recent meeting of the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health. • The sale of cigarettes through vending machines represents three-and-ahalf percent of the total tobacco market. • There are about 375,000 cigarette vending machines on location throughout the country. Eighty percent are located where persons under 18 years old aren't allowed access, or rarely frequent . • Twenty-eight percent of smokers under 18 do not buy cigarettes. They get them from friends and family. • Almost half (45 percent) of teenage smokers are permitted to purchase cigarettes by their parents. • Almost two-thirds of the frequent purchasers between 13 and 17 years old buy their cigarettes over-the-counter; only one in 11 buys often from vending machines. • Those who buy over-the-counter do so from these four primary locations: convenience stores (43 percent), gas stations (29 percent), grocery stores (11 percent), and drug stores (six percent). So, as we can see, prohibiting vending machine sales would not deter teens from buying cigarettes. Vending is already the least common avenue for them. The AMOA has long taken a stand against unfair legislation on a national level, pointing out these and other inconsistencies. But the banning offensive is gaining momentum on state and local levels. Cigarette vending operators must band together to fend off the evermounting attack waves. Complacency today could lead to a lost source of revenue tomorrow . D Christopher Caire News Editor