TY - JOUR
T1 - Designing Cancer Warning Labels for Alcoholic Beverages
T2 - Examining the Impact of Visual Elements
AU - Ma, Zexin
AU - Ma, Rong
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Society for Public Health Education.
PY - 2023/10
Y1 - 2023/10
N2 - Alcohol is a known carcinogen. However, public awareness of cancer risk associated with alcohol use is low. A promising approach to raising awareness is to include cancer warning labels on alcohol-containing products, but there is limited knowledge of the design and effect of such warnings. The present study investigated the impact of visual elements on the effectiveness of cancer warning labels. In a randomized online experiment, alcohol consumers (N = 1,190) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: exposure to (a) text-only warning labels, (b) pictorial warning labels showing graphic health effects (e.g., diseased organs), and (c) pictorial warning labels showing lived experience (e.g., cancer patients in a medical setting). The results showed that whereas the three warning types did not differ significantly in behavioral intentions, pictorial warnings featuring health effects led to greater disgust and anger than text-only warnings and pictorial warnings featuring lived experience. Moreover, anger predicted lower intentions to reduce alcohol use and was a significant mediator of the effects of warning type on behavioral intentions. The findings highlight the role of emotions in responses to health warning labels with different visual elements and suggest that text-only warnings and pictorial warnings with lived experience may be useful in preventing boomerang effects.
AB - Alcohol is a known carcinogen. However, public awareness of cancer risk associated with alcohol use is low. A promising approach to raising awareness is to include cancer warning labels on alcohol-containing products, but there is limited knowledge of the design and effect of such warnings. The present study investigated the impact of visual elements on the effectiveness of cancer warning labels. In a randomized online experiment, alcohol consumers (N = 1,190) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: exposure to (a) text-only warning labels, (b) pictorial warning labels showing graphic health effects (e.g., diseased organs), and (c) pictorial warning labels showing lived experience (e.g., cancer patients in a medical setting). The results showed that whereas the three warning types did not differ significantly in behavioral intentions, pictorial warnings featuring health effects led to greater disgust and anger than text-only warnings and pictorial warnings featuring lived experience. Moreover, anger predicted lower intentions to reduce alcohol use and was a significant mediator of the effects of warning type on behavioral intentions. The findings highlight the role of emotions in responses to health warning labels with different visual elements and suggest that text-only warnings and pictorial warnings with lived experience may be useful in preventing boomerang effects.
KW - alcohol
KW - anger
KW - cancer warning labels
KW - disgust
KW - fear
KW - visuals
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85158867247&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/10901981231166696
DO - 10.1177/10901981231166696
M3 - Article
C2 - 37131330
AN - SCOPUS:85158867247
SN - 1090-1981
VL - 50
SP - 586
EP - 594
JO - Health Education and Behavior
JF - Health Education and Behavior
IS - 5
ER -