Stop smoking aids fail to dent cigarette sales

Although sales of consumer pharmacy products to help smokers quit their habits have soared over the past year, cigarette sales have continued to steadily grow.

The Grocer, the food and drink retail business magazine reports that though sales of quitting aids have risen by 10% to £97m per year, tobacco sales have continued their regular annual growth - rising 3.3% in 2009 to a huge £11.3bn.

According to industry analysts quoted in the article, the sales boost was less likely to have been caused by people trying to quit smoking - and more likely the result of the integration of quitting aids into official NHS guidance. A spokesperson for GlaxoSmithKline, owners of the Niquitin brand said that "Smoking cessation underwent something of a renaissance in 2009, after a quiet period following SmokeFree legislation. The government invested heavily in promoting its smoking cessation services locally and nationally, which looks to have made an impact.''

Despite the increase in quitting aids however, the tobacco industry growth was undiminished. Six of the top ten cigarette brands were in growth in 2009, according to Nielsen data seen by The Grocer. The 'roll your own' category  was the strongest performer, believed to be due to its relative cheapness.

Given that an unprecedented number of smoking aids have been sold but cigarette sales have continued to grow, their effectiveness has been called in to question as a means to stop smoking. Hypnotherapy could provide an alternative stop smoking aid for those who have struggled to kick their habit with stop smoking aids. As an added benefit, hypnotherapy also carries none of the risk of chemical addiction recently revealed to be present in anti-smoking drugs.