Evaluating the impact of Picture Health Warnings on Cigarette Packets
About this study
Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable death and illness in the UK. Health warnings messages on cigarette packets are a proven way of communicating the health risks of smoking. In countries such as Australia and Canada, graphic picture health messages have been shown to be even more effective than textual warnings.
On the 1st October 2008, picture health warnings were introduced in the UK. Our study evaluates the impact of this across a range of domains.
There were some notable emotional responses to the picture health warnings. The picture warnings were more likely to prompt smokers to think about their smoking behaviour and more people, including young people aged 13-17, agreed that the pictures made smoking seem less attractive or that they 'put me off smoking'. Adult smokers were more likely to think about quitting after the pictures were introduced. However, it remains to be seen if these emotional responses are translated into behavioural change in the future. Our study also shows that there is a strong mandate of support for health warning messages, with the vast majority of adults and young people agreeing that the messages, either textual or picture, are necessary, truthful and impart important information.
However, the impact of the pictures was not as wide reaching as in Australia and Canada, with few behavioural changes observed. This, in part, may be due to differences in evaluation techniques used in each country but also may be due to different ways of implementing the pictures. In Australia and Canada, the pictures are larger than in the UK and are displayed on the front, rather than the reverse, of cigarette packets meaning that the messages, and the information they impart, are more prominent and more visible than in the UK.
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Of interest:
- NatCen
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