Researcher examined the effect of images on cigarette packages
Newswise — FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Scot Burton, marketing professor at the University of Arkansas, is available to comment on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ selection of images to place on cigarette package warning labels. Health officials released their final selection of nine graphic warning labels Tuesday. In November Burton and researches at Villanova University and Marquette University released findings from a study designed to help officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services better understand what types of pictorial warnings are most effective and why. The researchers surveyed more than 500 U.S. and Canadian smokers and found that the highly graphic images of the negative consequences of smoking had the greatest impact on smokers’ intentions to quit. The most graphic images, such as those showing severe mouth diseases, including disfigured, blackened and cancerous tissue, evoked fear about the consequences of smoking and thus influenced consumer intentions to quit.
The images chosen by the Department of Health and Human Services include photos of severely damaged teeth and lungs. One photo shows a man exhaling smoke through a tracheotomy, and another photo depicts a cadaver with a long suture scar in the middle of the chest. Text warnings will accompany the images on warning labels.
Burton’s study was published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. He may be reached at 479-575-5398 or [email protected].
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