People remember the warning information on the label better if it also has a picture on it, US scientists confirmed, as reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania examined which warning about smoking attracts smokers’ attention the most and makes them remember it better.
They used two types of advertising. One showed the usual warning text used by cigarette manufacturers, the other had the same text, but in larger type, and an additional graphic warning in the form of a photo of a man on a ventilator in a hospital bed.
The study participants were attached to a special device that tracked eye movements. This allowed to determine where, how long and how often the subject looks.
After viewing one of the advertisements, the test subjects were to write down the warning in their own words. This made it possible to check the degree of remembering information.
It turned out that the participants remembered the message contained in the advertisement, which was accompanied by a deterrent picture, much better. In addition, the less time the subject looked at the text, and the longer he looked at the graphics, the greater was the correctness of remembering.
In everyday life, a person spends only a few seconds reading an advertisement or label. Therefore, it is good to know which form of warning is likely to be most effective. The results of the study can help persuade smokers to consider the risks of their addiction and possibly to break up with it.
This study not only demonstrates the value of enriching a label with a graphical warning, but also helps to understand when a label warning can be effective so that more effective warning information can be designed in the future, concludes Andrew A. Strasser, lead author of the study.
(CARDBOARD)
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