[Reporter’s Notebook] Tens of Billions Wasted on Convenience Store Window Film: A Case of 'Desk-Bound Administration'

Opaque Films to Disappear Next Month, Replaced by Anti-Smoking Ads
At Least 2.5 Billion KRW Estimated Spent on Film Installation
Call for Practical Policies Instead of 'Desk-Bound Administration'

The 'opaque convenience store window film' that blocked views inside and outside convenience stores will disappear next month and be replaced with anti-smoking advertisements. The Regulatory Review Division under the Office for Government Policy Coordination held a meeting on the 17th and recommended that the Ministry of Health and Welfare and others take measures to remove the opaque films attached to convenience stores by next month.

Until now, convenience stores have attached opaque films to transparent glass walls to prevent cigarette advertisements inside from being seen from outside. This was based on the government authorities' judgment that blocking the view to prevent cigarette ads from being visible from outside convenience stores would reduce youth smoking rates. Following the authorities' directive, about 50,000 convenience stores nationwide simultaneously attached opaque films. It is estimated that at least 2.5 billion KRW was spent on this project alone.

The problem is that instead of a decrease in youth smoking rates, the crime rate has increased. Because the opaque films block the interior of convenience stores, the risk of crimes against workers on late-night shifts has increased. A representative case is the convenience store robbery and murder incident in Gyeyang-gu, Incheon, which occurred in February. The victim was found collapsed in front of the storage room inside the convenience store and was discovered late by a customer, but was already deceased. One regrets that if the glass had been transparent, someone outside might have noticed earlier.

Watching this series of government measures brings to mind China's 'Four Pests Campaign' in the late 1950s. Mao Zedong, inspecting rural Sichuan Province, saw flocks of sparrows pecking at grain meant for hungry people and ordered a nationwide extermination of sparrows. At that time, 'desk-bound' scholars claimed that eliminating sparrows would allow harvesting grain sufficient to feed at least 700,000 people. What was the result? The expected increase in grain did not occur, and instead, pests like rice planthoppers multiplied exponentially due to the absence of sparrows. This is a typical example of 'desk administration' that disregards reality.

The authorities' idea of simply attaching opaque films to convenience stores to reduce youth smoking rates was a predictable failure. Cases from major developed countries have proven that youth smoking rates decrease not through simple, short-term measures like opaque films, but through sustained government attention and systematic education. In fact, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, youth smoking rates slightly increased from 4.4% in 2020 to 4.5% in 2021 when the policy was implemented. It is hoped that the authorities will now implement practical policies rather than desk-bound administration that restricts convenience store owners.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.