Describes a study investigating the motivations of food retailers to engage in corporate socially responsible (CSR) activities. Focusing on confectionery retailing and merchandising, the study sought to establish the extent of CSR activities and the motivations for companies to act as they do. An audit of food retailers was first conducted to establish the nature and extent of CSR activities. This was followed by a series of in-depth interviews with key decision makers in food retailing organisations, to reveal motivations behind their policies on confectionery retailing. The authors found the main motivations driving confectionery merchandising decisions to be space maximisation, profitability and customer pressure. While certain proactive companies recognised the benefits of being seen as a socially responsible company, none of the companies was driven primarily by philanthropic motivations.

Objectives To examine young people's awareness of and involvement with tobacco marketing and to determine the association, if any, between this and their smoking behaviour. Design Cross sectional, quantitative survey, part interview and part self completion, administered in respondents' homes. Setting North east England. Participants Stratified random sample of 629 young people aged 15 and 16 years who had "opted in" to research through a postal consent procedure. Results There was a high level of awareness of and involvement in tobacco marketing among the 15-16 year olds sampled in the study: around 95% were aware of advertising and all were aware of some method of point of sale marketing. Awareness of and involvement with tobacco marketing were both significantly associated with being a smoker: for example, 30% (55/185) of smokers had received free gifts through coupons in cigarette packs, compared with 11% (21/199) of non-smokers (P < 0.001). When other factors known to be linked with teenage smoking were held constant, awareness of coupon schemes, brand stretching, and tobacco marketing in general were all independently associated with current smoking status. Conclusions Teenagers are aware of, and are participating in, many forms of tobacco marketing, and both awareness and participation are associated with current smoking status. This suggests that the current voluntary regulations designed to protect young people from smoking are not working, and that statutory regulations are required.

A nyone who doesn't believe that fear messages can change behaviour should try going into a crowded theatre and shouting "FIRE!"Certainly, such messages have served tobacco control well over the last 50 years. Even a casual glance at prevalence trends demonstrates the impact of the major revelations about smoking and ill health. The power of warnings is enhanced with evocative creative executions, provided the resulting fear does not overwhelm the audience, and adequate support with quitting is offered. The recent Australian campaign demonstrates the potential of this approach.

Social marketing has established itself as an effective technology for changing the health behaviors of individual citizens.

In July 1999 the Health Select Committee began an investigation into the British tobacco industry to determine what action it had taken and was taking in response to the known harmful effects of smoking and the addictive nature of tobacco. One of the committee's key achievements was to force the disclosure of a large quantity of internal company documents, includingfor the first time-material from the UK tobacco industry's leading advertising agencies.These documents cover all matters to do with tobacco promotion. They shed a unique light on the social research that has been done over the past 20 years to establish if and how tobacco promotion affects smoking behaviour. This research has been extensive but by necessity limited to studying observable outputs. The documents complete the picture by disclosing the inputs. In the process the documents corroborate the key findings of research and also yield much about the motivations and mindset of the UK tobacco industry.

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Over the last decade Britain has observed a trend towards the re-regulation of 'prescription only medicines' in favour of pharmacy status drugs. This move towards self-treatment to reduce pressures on general practitioner drug budgets and workloads has focused attention on the need for community pharmacists to extend their patient education and screening roles. In response to these changes, this study was conducted to explore: the type of over-the-counter (OTC) medicine being misused in Scotland; pharmacists' professional attitudes and management of OTC misuse; and the training and support needs of pharmacists. A postal questionnaire was designed. This was informed by an earlier stage of qualitative research and the available literature. It was then piloted and administered to all 110 pharmacies in the study area. A 79% response rate was achieved. The research found that OTC misuse, particularly of certain analgesics, sleeping prescriptions, products containing codeine or pseudoephedrine, caffeine, cough mixtures, and laxatives was common. The estimated mean number of patients suspected of misusing medicines in a typical week was 5.63. Pharmacies in urban areas were more likely than those in rural areas to report suspected misuse. The research identified a number of intervention strategies relating to: patient/pharmacist interaction; information provision; removal of products from the point of sale; sharing of information with other local pharmacists; and referral to other members of the primary care team. Pharmacists expressed a need for support in managing OTC misuse and in organising 'early warning systems' to share information locally.

Cigarette on-pack messages are one of the principal vehicles for informing smokers about the risks of smoking and research has highlighted their role as a valid health communication tool. Furthermore, they have the potential to disrupt the powerful cigarette brand imagery associated with tobacco packaging. Responding to concerns within Europe that the old style on-pack messages were ineffective and the introduction of new tobacco product legislation across Europe (EU Directive 2001/37/EC), this study was conducted to explore European smokers' response to the changes. The research draws upon two main areas of health communication: the need to pre-test messages to ensure they are appropriate for their intended audience; and the increased effectiveness of targeting messages to specific segments of the population. Two main research areas were addressed. First, the extent to which the new messages were appropriate for smokers in Europe and second, the potential to provide targeted and personally relevant messages to smokers via tobacco packs. Fifty-six focus groups were conducted across seven European countries (Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Sweden and the UK) with 17-64-year-old smokers, half of whom were not thinking about quitting (pre-contemplators) and half of whom were thinking of quitting in the next 6 months (contemplators and preparers). Implications for future labelling practices within Europe are discussed.