My Twitter timeline was positively sugar-coated yesterday morning – tweet after tweet praising Tesco for pledging to remove confectionery from its tills.

It’s a big, bold step that sets it apart from the majority of its grocery rivals. And, while Lidl made a similar move in January, this weekend’s The Grocer magazine reveals a mixed picture when it comes to the views of the various multiples on dropping the chocs from the checkouts.

Tesco has been praised by many commentators, and even the vast majority of my colleagues – an astute, commercially aware and professionally cynical bunch – feel the net effect of the confectionery ban will be positive. Britain’s biggest food retailer has a responsibility to contribute to the health of the nation, they say, and Tesco is acting now to ensure the long-term reputation of its brand – while gaining short-term PR plaudits.

While acknowledging all those points, I have some reservations over the move – including whether it sets a precedent. Tesco’s actions will put pressure on its rivals to follow suit, and I fear the checkout ban may be only the beginning.

When you walk into a Tesco Express in December (Tesco says it will take until then to poll consumers on what healthy products they would like to see replace the confectionery) there’ll be no Dairy Milk at the checkout but you probably won’t have to walk far to find some on an end-cap. And health campaigners aren’t naive – they are already calling for such displays to be banned.

I also question the timing of the Tesco ban.

As a price war rages and margins are stretched as thin as a liquorice shoelace, any action likely to dent Tesco’s bottom line – and those of rivals should they feel obliged to introduce bans – feels misguided. I have no idea how much money the pester power of children and actions of peckish adults put through Tesco’s checkouts but I’m willing to bet it is more than whatever the sweets are replaced with: bananas are currently 12p in Tesco and take up more shelf space than a Mars Bar, currently 60p.

And the move comes as sales of on-the-go confectionery are up 5.3% year-on-year to £464.1m, according to Kantar Worldpanel data to the end of April, ahead of the 4.2% growth in total confectionery sales through the multiple grocers.

I’d be surprised if Tesco hasn’t already done the maths, of course, and has obviously come to the conclusion that any loss of revenue is more than offset by the sweet spot its actions will put it in with health campaigners.

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