Posted: April 2, 2020
Health warning labels (HWLs) using graphic images that depict the negative health consequences of tobacco consumption can encourage smokers to quit. But could they be used on other products that harm our health?
We investigated the potential effectiveness and acceptability of tobacco-style HWLs onalcoholic drinks and high calorie snacks. To do this we ran two online studies: Alcohol study (5376 participants) and Food study (4618 participants). Participants viewed and rated 21 image-and-text HWLs on alcoholic drinks or 18 image-and-text HWLs on high calorie snacks. Just like on cigarette packs, the HWLs showed an image of disease health consequence relating to excess consumption of alcohol or high calorie snacks, alongside a text warning statement.
We found that for both alcoholic drinks and high calorie snacks, HWLs describing bowel cancer evoked the strongest negative emotional reactions and resulted in the lowest desire to consume the product they were applied to. Acceptability was generally low for HWLs on alcohol, but was higher for snacks. The majority of comments given by participants expressed negative reactions to the labels.
While bowel cancer HWLs had the most impact on people, they were also the least acceptable. Laboratory and field studies are now needed to test whether these labels could be effective in reducing selection and consumption of alcohol or high calorie snack foods.
To read the findings of the study in full, click on the link:
bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-020-8403-8
