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Abstract
To examine the effect of plain packaging on adolescents' perceptions of cigarette
packs, attributes of smokers, and expectations of cigarette taste, and to identify
the effect of increasing the size of pictorial health warnings on appraisal of plain
packs.
We used a 5 (degree of plain packaging and graphic health warning)x 3 (brand type)
between-subjects experimental design, using a Web-based methodology to expose adolescents
to one randomly selected cigarette pack, during which respondents completed ratings.
When brand elements such as color, branded fonts, and imagery were progressively removed
from cigarette packs, adolescents perceived packs to be less appealing, rated attributes
of a typical smoker of the pack less positively, and had more negative expectations
of cigarette taste. Pack appeal was reduced even further when the size of the pictorial
health warning on the most plain pack was increased from 30% to 80% of the pack face,
with this effect apparent among susceptible nonsmokers, experimenters, and established
smokers.
Removing as much brand information from cigarette packs as possible is likely to reduce
positive cigarette brand image associations among adolescents. By additionally increasing
the size of pictorial health warnings, positive pack perceptions of those who are
at greater risk of becoming regular addicted adult smokers are most likely to be reduced.
Copyright 2010 Society for Adolescent Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved.