BACKGROUND AND IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES: The sari-sari store is a distinct and integral feature of Philippine communities. These neighborhood convenience stores, integrated into family homes, sell dry goods, snacks, and daily necessities. Children frequently visit sari-sari stores to run errands or purchase treats. Sari-sari stores are thus deeply embedded in the fabric of communities, often an extension of household life and a central feature in childhood and family routines.

Over the years, sari-sari stores have served as a marketing space for large beverage companies, with store facades often used for brand visibility. However, a troubling trend has emerged, with tobacco companies co-opting this space. Designs mimicking a well-known cigarette brand's packaging have proliferated across Manila, transforming neighborhoods into inadvertent advertisements for tobacco products. These visual elements bring harmful products closer to children, posing a significant public health concern.
INTERVENTION OR RESPONSE: This initiative seeks to expose the tobacco industry’s exploitation of sari-sari stores as a marketing avenue to circumvent TAPS bans. Through visual documentation, policy analysis, and in-depth interviews, it will examine how the industry uses branding strategies to embed tobacco advertising within communities.
RESULTS AND IMPACT: By targeting sari-sari stores, homeowners unknowingly become conduits by painting their homes with branded designs. Entire neighborhoods are transformed into visual advertisements for harmful products. The ineffectiveness of existing TAPS regulations against this strategy allows the industry to infiltrate community spaces and jeopardize efforts to protect children and families from tobacco marketing.
CONCLUSIONS: There is an urgent need for stricter enforcement of TAPS bans and the development of innovative regulatory frameworks. Protecting sari-sari stores from becoming tools for harmful advertising is essential to safeguarding public health, particularly for children who are disproportionately affected by the proximity of tobacco marketing in their everyday environment. There should be stronger policies to ensure that community spaces remain safe from exploitation by the tobacco industry.