Graphic warnings can quash cigarettes’ appeal to kids: Study claims

A new research published in the journal, Health Education Research Cigarette, has revealed that ads with graphic warning labels can snuff out children's view of smoking tobacco as cool, rebellious and fun.

By: Agencies | | Published: December 9, 2018 4:30 pm

Children find cigarette ads with graphic warning labels cool. © Shutterstock

Cigarette ads with graphic warning labels that contain images such as bleeding, cancerous gums and lips can snuff out children’s view of smoking tobacco as cool, rebellious and fun, suggests a new research.

Each participant was randomly assigned a set of six ads. Some saw ads with social cues — such as a group of smiling people taking a selfie with a graphic warning label covering 20 per cent of the ad. Other groups saw ads with various combinations of text-only warnings, graphic warnings, the current surgeon general warning, brand imagery and social cues.

They found that the graphic warning label drew viewers’ attention away from ads and toward the warning, regardless of whether the warning was graphic or text only, more than the current surgeon general warning.

The labels also aroused more negative feelings than the text-only labels and reduced the children’s perceptions that cigarette brands are attractive and exciting.

The study also found participants felt the same levels of negative emotion whether they looked at a graphic warning label covering 20 per cent of a full page ad or 50 per cent of a much smaller cigarette pack.

“We were pleasantly surprised that the levels of negative emotion were equivalent between those two conditions,” Niederdeppe said. “It suggests that 20 per cent coverage on an advertisement is a high enough threshold to create the negative emotion.”

Source: IANS

Published : December 9, 2018 4:30 pm

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