CVS Renames Itself CVS Health as it Ends Sale of Tobacco Products
(1) Who are the major winners and losers in this story? Why do you think so?
There is a mix of winners and losers in this story and some parties could be considered both. For example, CVS is gaining a lot of support for its new focus on health, but it also does so at the expense of revenues. The video mentions that CVS's revenue will decrease from the organization stopping the sale of tobacco products at its retail chains.
The consumers could also be considered both winners and losers. The video mentions one individual who states that he will simply have to walk across the street to buy his cigars. However, other tobacco customers could be more significantly inconvenienced and have to travel further to buy tobacco products. However, depending on the perspective, some would argue that this might provide some tobacco users an increased incentive to quick using this products and ultimately they could be winners because of the changes.
From the perspective of public health, this seems as if it can only be considered a win. Tobacco products clearly have been shown to have a wide range of negative health consequences to the users as well as those around...
Therefore, anything to slow the sales and distribution of tobacco products is a positive trend in regards to public health.
(2) What are the other alternatives (beside "to ends sale of tobacco")?
There are many alternatives to trying to prohibit the sales of tobacco products and many of these have been implemented over the years. In fact, smoking cessation efforts have just recently celebrated their fifty year anniversary.
"In 1964 the surgeon general reported that cigarette smoking was the most important risk factor for development of lung cancer and that quitting smoking reduced that risk. Since that time a concerted effort to reduce tobacco smoking has been one of the most important public health agenda items for the medical profession. Since this is the 50th anniversary of organized tobacco control, the Journal of the American Medical Association has devoted an entire issue to the subject of tobacco and health. (Boughton, 2014)"
Many of the efforts to reduce the usage of tobacco products have focused on educational efforts or more direct efforts such as taxation. There have also been other rules and regulations implemented to stop underage smoking for example. Consumers typically now pay…
