Learning Objectives: 1. Describe the sociopolitical conditions and public reaction to the implementation of the cigarette warning label. 2. Describe adult and youth smoker's awareness of the toxic substances in cigarette smoke and the health effects of smoking and the presence of these on cigarette packaging. 3. Discuss using both survey data and focus group data the perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes of youth and adult smokers toward the cigarette warning label. 4. Identify other countries that have implemented more graphic and effective cigarette package warning labels.
Abstract: Problem: While present on cigarette packaging and advertising, smokers' perceptions and attitudes toward cigarette packaging warning labels is unclear. As other countries begin to adopt very graphic warning labels, there is an opportunity to review the United States’ warning labels.
Methods: Three types of data will be presented in this session. First, historical data will be gathered from tobacco industry documents and popular periodical outlets. Second, data from a large, representative survey implemented in 2001 will be used. Lastly, focus group data will also be presented. Presenters for the individual abstracts to be included in this session include Brian C. Castrucci and Michelle Larkin from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Michelle Roland from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Michelle Bloch from the National Cancer Institute.
Results: Despite the original intentions of the warning label, it is not perceived as an effective deterrent to smoking nor a solid source of information. Consistently, smokers were unable to identify the contents of the warning and did not cite the warning label as a source of information.
Discussion: Changes to the cigarette warning label present an important policy-level intervention. Other countries that have adopted more graphic labels have begun to experience such tangible outcomes as increased calls to state-sponsored quit lines. The United States could make a positive step in the prevention of smoking initiation and the promotion of cessation by enacting more graphic and descriptive warning labels.
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