The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: To create social conscience in favor of healthy environments. Argentina is in an immature stage in aspects related to the rights of the non smokers and there isn't a national law that regulates smoking is forbidden in public places.

Methods: 351 workers and 477 customers were interviewed. Workshops were performed with workers and customers. The workshops lasted 40 minutes and the importance of smoke-free workplaces and the situation in the shopping center were emphasized. Articles were published in the local media and a smoking cessation group was implemented.

Results: To 68.7% of workers is very important to have a smoke-free workplace, 43.6% don't call customers' attention to the fact that smoking is forbidden in some areas, 64.1% believes if the shopping center were smoke-free, customers would visit the mall less frequently and 50.7% considers that this situation would result in a decrease in sales, 54.1% of the customers are in favor of not allowing people to smoke in public places. If the shopping were smoke-free, only 3.8% of customers say they would not go anymore. In both groups a percentage of interviewees think that smoking possesses many positive benefits. It is necessary to design new strategies to achieve a larger participation of workers and customers and to modify the positive attitudes toward the habit of smoking.