Abstract
Background
Understanding factors that influence public support for “nudging” policies, like pictorial cigarette pack warnings, may offer insight about how to increase such support. We sought to examine factors that influence smokers’ support for requiring pictorial warnings on cigarette packs.
Methods
In 2014 and 2015, we randomly assigned 2149 adult US smokers to receive either pictorial warnings or text-only warnings on their cigarette packs for 4 weeks. The outcome examined in the current study was support for a policy requiring pictorial warnings on cigarette packs in the US.
Results
Support for pictorial warnings was high at baseline (mean: 3.2 out of 4). Exposure to pictorial warnings increased policy support at week 4 (β = .05, p = .03). This effect was explained by increases in perceived message effectiveness (p < .001) and reported conversations about policy support (p < .001). Message reactance (i.e., an oppositional reaction to the warning) partially diminished the impact of pictorial warnings on policy support (p < .001).
Conclusions
Exposing people to a new policy through implementation could increase public support for that policy by increasing perceived effectiveness and by prompting conversations about the policy. Reactance may partially weaken the effect of policy exposure on public support.
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Funding
Research reported in this publication was supported by The National Cancer Institute and FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) under Award Number P30CA016086-38S2. F31CA196037 and T32-CA057726 from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health supported MGH’s time writing the paper. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or the Food and Drug Administration.
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Kurt M. Ribisl and Noel T. Brewer have served as paid expert consultants in litigation against the tobacco industry. Cass R. Sunstein helped oversee federal regulation in the US government between 2009 and 2012, and he worked on the topic of graphic health warnings. Marissa G. Hall, Theresa Marteau, Seth M. Noar and Elizabeth N. Orlan declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Hall, M.G., Marteau, T.M., Sunstein, C.R. et al. Public support for pictorial warnings on cigarette packs: an experimental study of US smokers. J Behav Med 41, 398–405 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-018-9910-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-018-9910-2