NTUC FairPrice was the first off the starting blocks with vending machines to sell and dispense cigarettes, even before the tobacco display ban takes effect (“NTUC FairPrice trials cigarette vending machine for tobacco display ban”; March 17).
Its fast reaction to meet the new requirement, with its emphatic move to increase market share in this smoky business and break away from the pack, suggests that tobacco is a big revenue earner for FairPrice.
Surely this is not “guided by the philosophy to do well in order to do good for the community” as promulgated on its corporate website, since tobacco kills thousands of smokers and passive smokers here annually.
It is unconscionable for FairPrice, with its social mission, to not scale down its tobacco sales operations, which it is beefing up instead with a heavy investment.
This runs counter to our national agenda to reduce the smoking rate.
If this is not the case, we should hear from FairPrice whether its management has other noble intentions.
This article written by Lim Teck Koon, was published in Voices, Today, on 22 Mar 2016.
Source: www.todayonline.com
