Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC.
School of Media and Journalism, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.
Nicotine Tob Res. 2020 Apr 21;22(5):630-637. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntz091.
We examined the effect of visual optimizations on warning text recall.
We used Amazon's Mechanical Turk to recruit 1854 young adult (18-34 years) electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) users or susceptible nonusers. We conducted a between-subjects 3 × 2 × 2 experiment to examine the influence of color (black text on white background [BW] vs. black on yellow [BY] vs. yellow on black [YB]), shape (rectangle vs. novel), and signal word (presence vs. absence of the word "warning"). We randomized participants to view one of 12 warnings on a fictional e-cigarette advertisement. We coded open-ended recall responses into three categories: (1) recalled nothing, (2) recalled something, (3) recalled the concept. We examined main effects on warning text recall using multinomial regression. We examined differences in attention, perceived message effectiveness, and appeal.
Those exposed to BW or BY warnings were more likely than those exposed to YB to recall something (AOR = 1.6, AOR = 1.5, respectively) or the concept (OR = 1.4, BW). Those exposed to novel shape (44.7% novel vs. 37.9% rectangle; p = .003) or color (44.5% BY vs. 41.9% YB vs. 37.5% BW; p = .04) warnings were more likely to report attention to the warning. In aided recall, those exposed to the signal word were more likely than those not exposed to select the correct response (64.0% vs. 31.3%; p < .0001). We did not find differences for message effectiveness or appeal.
Visual optimizations such as color may influence warning text recall and should be considered for new warnings. Research should continue exploring variations for advertisement warnings to maximize attention to warning text.
This study examines the impact of visual optimizations on recall of the US Food and Drug Administration-mandated e-cigarette advertisement warning text. We found that color might influence warning text recall, but we did not find effects for shape or signal word. It is possible the newly mandated e-cigarette advertisement warnings, which are required to occupy at least 20% of the advertisement, are currently novel enough to attract attention. Future research should examine optimizations following implementation of the new advertisement warnings.
我们研究了视觉优化对警告文本召回的影响。
我们使用亚马逊的 Mechanical Turk 招募了 1854 名年轻成年（18-34 岁）电子烟（e-cigarette）使用者或潜在非使用者。我们进行了一项 3×2×2 的实验，以检验颜色（白色背景上的黑色文本[BW]与黑色背景上的黄色文本[BY]与黄色背景上的黑色文本[YB]）、形状（矩形与新颖形状）和信号词（是否有“警告”一词）的影响。我们将参与者随机分配到虚构电子烟广告上的 12 个警告之一。我们将开放式回忆回答编码为三个类别：（1）什么都没记住，（2）记住了一些，（3）记住了概念。我们使用多项回归分析来检验警告文本回忆的主要效果。我们检验了注意力、感知信息有效性和吸引力的差异。
与暴露于 YB 的人相比，暴露于 BW 或 BY 警告的人更有可能回忆起某些内容（AOR = 1.6，AOR = 1.5）或概念（OR = 1.4，BW）。那些看到新颖形状（44.7%新颖形状比 37.9%矩形；p =.003）或颜色（44.5% BY 比 41.9% YB 比 37.5% BW；p =.04）警告的人更有可能注意到警告。在辅助回忆中，那些看到信号词的人比没有看到信号词的人更有可能选择正确的回答（64.0%比 31.3%；p<.0001）。我们没有发现信息有效性或吸引力的差异。
视觉优化（如颜色）可能会影响警告文本的召回，因此应该在新的警告中考虑这些因素。研究应继续探索广告警告的变化，以最大限度地提高对警告文本的关注。
本研究检验了视觉优化对美国食品和药物管理局强制电子烟广告警告文本召回的影响。我们发现颜色可能会影响警告文本的召回，但我们没有发现形状或信号词的影响。目前，新强制的电子烟广告警告可能足够新颖，足以引起人们的注意。未来的研究应该在新广告警告实施后检查优化效果。
