Institute for Social Marketing, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK.
Eur J Public Health. 2010 Aug;20(4):463-9. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckp199. Epub 2009 Dec 3.
As of June 2009 most (89%) European Union member states continue to use mandated text-only health warnings on tobacco products. This study assessed adolescent (aged 11-16 years) perceptions of and reactions to these text warnings on cigarette packs in the UK.
Data comes from wave five of the cross-sectional Youth Tobacco Policy Survey in 2008. A total of 1401 adolescents were recruited and health warnings were assessed in terms of salience (noticing, reading), comprehension and credibility, memorability (recall), depth of processing (contemplating, discussing) and persuasiveness (put off smoking, make more likely to stop). Smokers were also asked about behavioural compliance (foregoing cigarettes due to warnings, avoidance of warnings) and perceptions of harm from their smoking (to indirectly assess possible knowledge gained from warnings).
Despite moderately high salience of warnings, memorability and, in particular, depth of processing was quite low, with warnings only sometimes thought about and very rarely discussed. Warnings were however considered comprehensible, credible and a reasonable deterrent for occasional and never smokers. Additionally, a third of regular smokers indicated that, in the last month, warnings had stopped them from having a cigarette. However, only 6% of smokers indicated that warnings made them forego cigarettes frequently.
Text warnings help to communicate the dangers associated with smoking and, resultantly, prompt a small number of smokers to forgo cigarettes and take action to avoid warnings, but depth of processing is low and warnings do not appear to be achieving their full potential among smokers.
截至 2009 年 6 月，大多数（89%）欧盟成员国仍在烟草制品上使用强制的纯文本健康警告。本研究评估了英国青少年（年龄在 11-16 岁）对香烟包装上这些文本警告的看法和反应。
数据来自 2008 年横断面青少年烟草政策调查的第五波。共招募了 1401 名青少年，从显著性（注意到、阅读）、理解和可信度、可记性（回忆）、深度加工（思考、讨论）和说服力（戒烟、更有可能戒烟）等方面评估健康警告。吸烟者还被问及行为遵守（因警告而放弃香烟、避免警告）和对吸烟危害的看法（间接评估可能从警告中获得的知识）。
尽管警告的显著性较高，但可记性和特别是深度加工相当低，只有偶尔会想到警告，很少讨论。然而，警告被认为是可理解的、可信的，对偶尔吸烟和从不吸烟的人来说是一种合理的威慑。此外，三分之一的经常吸烟者表示，在上个月，警告阻止了他们吸烟。然而，只有 6%的吸烟者表示，警告使他们经常放弃吸烟。
文本警告有助于传达与吸烟相关的危险，从而促使少数吸烟者放弃吸烟并采取行动避免警告，但深度加工程度较低，警告似乎没有在吸烟者中发挥其全部潜力。
