According to the survey conducted by China Tobacco Control Association on tobacco sales outlets in 8 cities and 10 counties/towns, 63.7% of tobacco sales outlets found tobacco advertisements, and 57.6% of tobacco sales outlets did not set a label prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to minors.

From January to May 2019, the China Tobacco Control Association conducted a special investigation on 741 tobacco sales outlets in 8 cities and 10 counties/towns in 8 provinces including Guangdong and Henan to understand the advertisement law prohibiting tobacco advertising. Implementation. The survey included whether tobacco outlets have tobacco advertisements and whether there is a label prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors (banned sale mark).

According to the survey, tobacco advertisements were found at 63.7% of tobacco-selling outlets, and the most found were Guangzhou and Zhengzhou. 100% of the points of sale investigated found tobacco advertisements; among different types of tobacco sales outlets, city, county/town tobacco monopoly The store's tobacco advertising ranked first, significantly higher than supermarkets and convenience stores.

The survey also found that 57.6% of the tobacco sales outlets did not set a mark prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to minors. The most prohibited stores were concession stores, reaching 63.9%, of which the city's convenience stores and specialty stores were higher than the counties and towns. Among the 8 cities, 58.5% of the sales points did not have a banned sale mark, Wenzhou had the least, 8.8%, and Zhengzhou had the most 91.2%; 3.9% of the tobacco sales outlets had young people entering the store to buy cigarettes, and 2.7% of the sales points. Within 50 meters from the primary and secondary schools. In addition, 30.2% of the sales points have promotional activities, 46.4% of tobacco stores, 27.3% of convenience stores, 26.3% of supermarkets have promotional activities, tobacco store sales behavior is significantly higher than convenience stores, supermarkets.

The newly revised Advertising Law came into effect on September 1, 2015, which stipulates that it is prohibited to publish tobacco advertisements in the mass media or public places, public transportation, and outdoors; it is prohibited to send any form of tobacco advertisements to minors. The Law on the Protection of Minors also has provisions that “operators should set up signs that do not sell alcohol and tobacco to minors in a prominent position”. In May 2016, the China Tobacco Control Association conducted a survey of tobacco advertisements in 11 cities in 11 provinces. The survey found that tobacco advertising in outdoor and public places was significantly reduced, while tobacco sales points were the hardest hit by tobacco advertising.

Liao Wenke, the vice president of the China Tobacco Control Association and the former inspector of the Department of Education and Physical Education of the Ministry of Education, pointed out that tobacco advertising will become an important incentive for young people to try to smoke. "I strongly urge that the regulatory authorities must strengthen supervision and resolutely ban illegal tobacco advertising. Merchants must be strict in accordance with the law." Guo Xin, director of the Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that tobacco advertising is an important risk factor affecting young people to start smoking. Beijing 2005-2015 children and adolescents in Beijing Six surveys of tobacco prevalence showed that about 50% of young people started smoking because of curiosity and imitation, and tobacco advertising was an important factor in adolescents' curious about smoking behavior. Among the students who tried to smoke, 63.51% of the students saw tobacco advertisements in TV/billboard/retail stores. The survey results also confirmed that the impact of tobacco advertising, young people try to smoke behavior is showing a trend of younger age, "the relevant departments should strengthen the supervision of tobacco advertising, put an end to all forms of tobacco advertising and disguised promotions, so that young people are away from tobacco."