The use of visual warnings in social marketing: The case of tobacco

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2009.09.012Get rights and content

Abstract

Despite strong interest on the part of tobacco health practitioners, the effect of graphic warnings inserted on cigarette packs is unclear on several levels. First, the most effective themes for such messages have not been clearly identified by researchers. Second, no research has identified the ideal combination of self-efficacy and fear appeal warnings that should be inserted on cigarette packs, according to Protection Motivation Model principles. The exploratory study we conducted with French consumers to test the effectiveness of new graphic warnings proposed by the European Union in 2004 clearly demonstrates that visual messages, as opposed to text warnings, are more effective. This study also enabled us to identify the most effective themes of the European set: health warnings and social messages. Regarding future public health applications, if fear appeals are used, they need to be combined with self-efficacy and cessation support messages since they provoke avoidance reactions.

Introduction

Cigarette smoking is a major cause of premature death: tobacco use kills 5.4 million people a year and accounts for 1 in 10 adult deaths worldwide (www.who.int), while within the European Union it accounts for over half a million deaths each year. Since 2003, the World Health Organization has proposed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in order to decrease the number of smokers worldwide. The FCTC aims to help and guide countries in developing effective tools for tobacco control policies. In order to improve the effectiveness of tobacco prevention campaigns, the FCTC encourages use of graphic warnings on tobacco packs. More than 20 countries have introduced them: Canada, 2000, Brazil, 2002, Thailand, 2005, Belgium, 2006, UK, 2008, etc. Studies have been conducted to assess the impact of these visual warnings. Researchers have underlined the main objectives and basic principles for the elaboration of such messages, but their effects remain unclear on several levels. For example, the possible adverse effects of fear appeals or the most effective themes for such messages have not been clearly identified.

The aim of the present study is to deal with these questions by determining the impact of new graphic warnings proposed by the European Commission since 2004 on French consumers and provide new insights in the field of social marketing.

Section snippets

Literature review

Research on product warnings started in the eighties and most studies focus on the impact of textual and rational warnings (Cox et al., 1997, Argo and Main, 2004). The first scientific publication on pictorial tobacco warnings appeared in 2003 (Hammond, Fong, McDonald, Cameron and Brown) and was followed by other studies, mainly by public health researchers. These studies underline that graphic warnings are more effective than textual labels on cognitive and emotional reactions as well as

Methodology

In France, like most European countries, current warnings are only texts and cover 30% of the front of cigarette packs and 40% of the back. The front pack warnings are “smoking kills” or “smoking seriously harms you and others around you” and the back of the pack must contain one of 14 other text warnings. Since October 2004, the European Union has developed 42 new visual warnings that may be voluntarily used by member states in addition to the two existing text warnings for the front of the

Results

When comparing the 3 packs of Marlboro (materials in Set 1), participants said that pictorial warnings reached them more and were more effective than texts, which were overexposed (20 occurrences). Moreover, the pack of Marlboro with visual warnings was judged less attractive than the ones with verbal messages (17, more for people age 15 to 24). The warning with a picture of external cancer tumors inserted on 2 Marlboro packs provoked numerous reactions: negative (184, more for smokers, women

Discussion and conclusion

While previous research has identified the basic principles for enhancing the effectiveness of tobacco graphic warnings, the present study explores this topic further. Indeed, this work provides new academic contributions by adding external validity to the existing literature, by testing the use of fear appeals and self-efficacy messages in a product warning context, and finally by proposing some precise and efficient themes for prevention messages.

First, this study reveals that French people

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the French National Cancer Institute for funding this research. The authors also like to thank Professor P-J Benghozi, the participants in the qualitative seminar organized by the FNEGE (Fondation Nationale pour l'Enseignement et la Gestion des Entreprises) and the reviewers of the 2009 La Londe conference for their helpful advice, which contributed to improving the quality of this article.

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