News and Events

Local Tobacco Free Partnership is Evaluating Local Point-of-Sale Tobacco Advertising, Compliance with Required Tobacco Signage
March 23, 2018

The TFP has been conducting an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance (AVC) Assessment.  AVC’s are contracts between a company and one or more states. Companies agreed to restrictions and additions to their policies for the sale and marketing of tobacco products that may go beyond existing regulatory requirements on investigated retailers that were cited for continuing to sell tobacco products to minors in spite of state age restrictions. AVCs were developed to resolve those claims. Youth tobacco inspections played a key role in developing the AVCs. All of the AVCs include some restrictions on the retail environment and additional provisions may fill in gaps in the state’s tobacco laws.

Dixie County only has one tobacco retailer with an AVC but 10 different tobacco retailers were assessed using the AVC instrument by TFP and SWAT. The difference in the AVC retailer and the other non-AVC tobacco retailers were noticeable. The tobacco retailer with an AVC had a much better scoring on all of the compliance areas such as no tobacco signage outside the tobacco retail area, and all tobacco products were put behind the counter requiring clerk assisted purchases.  Many of the non-AVC tobacco retailers that are located within walking distance to the high school, that are more often visited by high school students, were assessed using the AVC Instrument. 


There was an obvious reduction in tobacco advertising in the store with an AVC contract (Left) when compared to stores without contracts (Right).

The results for these assessments were shared with the partnership members during the TFP meeting and the most upsetting non-compliant issues was that many of the tobacco retailers did not have signage at the doors or near the registers stating the age restriction for purchasing tobacco. Many of the youth conducting the assessments noted that many of the tobacco retailers did not have any age restriction signage for tobacco purchases, several had signage but they were not clearly visible and the others had signage but were almost crowded out by tobacco advertisements.   

According to the Florida Statute Title XXXIV - ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AND TOBACCO Chapter 569.14 states that a dealer that sells tobacco products shall post a clear and conspicuous sign in each place of business where such products are sold which substantially states the following:

THE SALE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS TO PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 18 IS AGAINST FLORIDA LAW. PROOF OF AGE IS REQUIRED FOR PURCHASE.

And a dealer that sells tobacco products and nicotine products or nicotine dispensing devices, as defined in s. 877.112, may use a sign that substantially states the following:

THE SALE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS, NICOTINE PRODUCTS, OR NICOTINE DISPENSING DEVICES TO PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 18 IS AGAINST FLORIDA LAW. PROOF OF AGE IS REQUIRED FOR PURCHASE.

Currently the most often seen age restriction signage at tobacco retailers is the “We Card” program signs from Altria Company which is actually tobacco industry groups that continue to market tobacco products to youth.  The Federal Drug Administration has a campaign, “This is Our Watch” that has signage and calendars that tobacco retailers can post that states that it “We ID Tobacco Purchases”.  Both of these programs lack the required wording in the Florida Statue. 

The Tobacco Free Partnership of Dixie County discussed how to work with the local tobacco retailers to promote the proper way to post age restrictions where they can be seen by all customers.  The partnership members discussed developing a sign that has the correct wording to distribute to the tobacco retailers.  Working with tobacco retailers on signage may be a big step in preventing youth tobacco use.

Whenever a tobacco retailer is not complying with the Florida Statues, they can be reported to the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation (DBPR) on a toll-free number for unlicensed activity complaints at 1-866-532-1440. For more information on the Tobacco Free Partnership, contact Melanie Anderson, Dixie County Tobacco Prevention Specialist at 352-256-1061 or MAnderson@QuitDoc.com.