Search

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers’ interest and preference for health warnings on wine label, and the key socio-demographic and attitudinal variables driving this interest. Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered, by a professional marketing company, through an on line survey with a sample of 300 Italians, aged over 18, consuming wine at least once a month. Findings – Respondents were interested in receiving more information on nutritional and health features of wine through the label, and would also like to obtain information about the warnings about possible side effects related to excessive wine consumption. The most relevant variables influencing positive interest toward this information are gender (female), age (younger cohort), education level (higher), presence of children in the household and being the main responsible of grocery shopping. Research limitations/implications – The research was limited by being conducted only in Italy, using explorative methodology. Social implications – Outcomes provide useful evidence for advocates calling for the introduction of health warnings on wine labels and policy makers. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze Italian consumer interest toward health warnings on wine label. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health warnings in tobacco advertisements provide health information while also increasing the perceived risks of tobacco use. However, existing federal laws requiring warnings on advertisements for tobacco products do not specify whether the rules apply to social media promotions., Objective: This study aims to examine the current state of influencer promotions of little cigars and cigarillos (LCCs) on Instagram and the use of health warnings in influencer promotions., Methods: Instagram influencers were identified as those who were tagged by any of the 3 leading LCC brand Instagram pages between 2018 and 2021. Posts from identified influencers, which mentioned one of the three brands were considered LCC influencer promotions. A novel Warning Label Multi-Layer Image Identification computer vision algorithm was developed to measure the presence and properties of health warnings in a sample of 889 influencer posts. Negative binomial regressions were performed to examine the associations of health warning properties with post engagement (number of likes and comments)., Results: The Warning Label Multi-Layer Image Identification algorithm was 99.3% accurate in detecting the presence of health warnings. Only 8.2% (n=73) of LCC influencer posts included a health warning. Influencer posts that contained health warnings received fewer likes (incidence rate ratio 0.59, P <.001, 95% CI 0.48-0.71) and fewer comments (incidence rate ratio 0.46, P <.001, 95% CI 0.31-0.67)., Conclusions: Health warnings are rarely used by influencers tagged by LCC brands' Instagram accounts. Very few influencer posts met the US Food and Drug Administration's health warning requirement of size and placement for tobacco advertising. The presence of a health warning was associated with lower social media engagement. Our study provides support for the implementation of comparable health warning requirements to social media tobacco promotions. Using an innovative computer vision approach to detect health warning labels in influencer promotions on social media is a novel strategy for monitoring health warning compliance in social media tobacco promotions., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: None declared., (©Jiaxi Wu, Juan Manuel Origgi, Lynsie R Ranker, Aruni Bhatnagar, Rose Marie Robertson, Ziming Xuan, Derry Wijaya, Traci Hong, Jessica L Fetterman. Originally published in JMIR Infodemiology (https://infodemiology.jmir.org), 14.03.2023.)

Objective: Tobacco use is associated with mortality in low- and middle-income countries including India with dual burden of smoking and smokeless tobacco (SLT). Aligning with the FCTC, India has made substantial amendments in strengthening graphic warning under Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) for sections 7,8 9 and "Specified warning". Compliance assessment studies are necessary to understand current status of implementation for packaging laws. This study aimed to assess the compliance of COTPA sections 7,8 9 and Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Third Amendment Rules, 2020 in Delhi., Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted in two districts of Delhi selected by simple random sampling. Fifteen points of sales were selected from each district through purposive sampling and 57 smoking and smokeless tobacco products were collected with Indian and foreign origin. An observation checklist for product analysis was prepared and pack analysis done based on COTPA sections 7,8 and 9 along with Third Amendment,2020 which included pictures and warnings to be circulated in 2021., Result: Total 57 samples has smoking (49.1%), smokeless (50.9%) with no SLT product of foreign origin. SLT and foreign products had low compliance of Section 7 and third amendment 2020 rules which includes manufacturing date and origin. Indian smoking products were highly compliant to section 8 and 9 whereas foreign and SLT products showed low compliance to section 8. COTPA Third Amendment Rules (2020) compliance was seen in Indian products with regards to SW (68.4%), PW (61.4%) and quit line (78.9%) with no compliance at all for foreign products., Conclusion: Foreign brands and SLT products had low compliance with sections 7 and 8 of COTPA and its amendments (2020). Compliance with illicit trade and SW needs regulation and strict implementation of law for SLT products.

The study employed a mixed methods design using focus group interviews with 6 student groups and self-administered questionnaires with 1239 students. The participants were nonsmoking, current smokers, and quit-smoking teenagers from secondary schools and colleges. Focus group revealed that although nonsmoking teenagers perceived fear appeals to warning messages, current smokers did not perceive fear appeals to health. Black and white backgrounds of the cigarette package were chosen as the best color for plain packaging. However, most participants suggested various pictorials and a bigger size of pictorial warnings for greater and more effective fear appeal. Odds ratio showed that males had 2.43 times the odds to perceive intention not to smoke. Teenagers who had never smoked and those who had quit smoking had 13.27 and 3.61 times the odds, respectively, to perceive intention not to smoke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the impact of unexpectedness, novelty, and relevance when including a shocking picture on cigarette packages in Japan. An experimental design compared reactions of Japanese smokers exposed to a health warning including a picture versus the current text-based health warning message. A health warning with a graphic image was confirmed as more effective in attracting attention and easier to understand, with some limited impact in persuading smokers to act on the information. Overall, the findings provide support for regulations in Japan to require health warnings featuring novel imagery, such as those found in Europe, Canada, and Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To test the hypothesis that tobacco companies would not follow a regulation that required seven new graphic health warnings (GHWs) to be evenly distributed on cigarette packs and that they would distribute fewer packs featuring warnings regarded by smokers as being more disturbing. Methods Cross-sectional survey of purchased packs (n = 168) and street-collected discarded packs (convenience sample of New Zealand cities and towns, n = 1208 packs) with statistical analysis of seven types of new GHWs. A priori warning impact was judged using three criteria, which were tested against data from depth interviews with retailers. Results The GHWs on the purchased packs and street-collected packs both showed a distribution pattern that was generally consistent with the hypothesis ie, there were disproportionately more packs featuring images judged as "least disturbing" and disproportionately fewer of those with warnings judged "more disturbing". The overall patterns were statistically significant, suggesting an unequal frequency of the different warnings for both purchased (p < 0.0001) and street-collected packs (p = 0.035). One of the least disturbing images (of a "corpse with toe-tag") dominated the distribution in both samples. Further analysis of the street-collected packs revealed that this image appeared disproportionately more frequently on manufactured cigarettes made by each of the three largest New Zealand tobacco companies. Although stock clustering could explain the purchase pack result, there were no obvious reasons why the same uneven warning distribution was also evident among the street-collected packs. Conclusions These results suggest that tobacco companies are not following the regulations, which requires even distribution of the seven different GHWs on cigarette packs; further monitoring is required to estimate the extent of this non-compliance. As an immediate measure, governments should strictly enforce all regulations applying to health warnings, particularly given that these are an effective tobacco control intervention that cost tax payers nothing.

Competing Interests: The authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none was reported.

ABSTRACT Aims To assess the effects on brand appeal of plain packaging and size of pictorial health warnings (PHWs). Design Three (30%, 70% and 100% size front-of-pack PHWs) by two (branded versus plain) between-subjects online experiment. Setting Australia. Participants A total of 1203 adult smokers. Measurements Rating of cigarette brands, smoking attitudes and intentions, purchase intent. Findings Compared to branded packs, plain packs reduced smokers' ratings of 'positive pack characteristics' ( P < 0.001), 'positive smoker characteristics' ( P < 0.001) and 'positive taste characteristics' ( P = 0.039). Plain packs were rated as being smoked by people who were more 'boring' than those who smoked branded packs ( P = 0.001). By contrast, increasing size of PHW above 30% only reduced ratings of 'positive pack characteristics' ( P = 0.001), but also decreased ratings of smokers as being 'boring' ( P = 0.027). Plainness and size of PHW interacted in predicting ratings of 'positive pack characteristics' ( P = 0.008), so that when packs were plain, increasing the size of PHW above 30% did not further reduce ratings. Presentation of only plain packs increased the likelihood that smokers would not choose to purchase any pack (20.3%) compared to presentation of only branded packs (15.3%) (odds ratio = 1.4; P = 0.026), while size of PHWs had no influence upon purchase choice. Conclusions Plain packaging probably plays a superior role in undermining brand appeal and purchase intent to increasing health warning size. Policymakers should not rely solely upon large health warnings, which are designed primarily to inform consumers about smoking harms, to also reduce brand appeal: both strategies are likely to be required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Dissuasive cigarettes, cigarettes with an unappealing colour or displaying a health warning label, may deter young people from smoking uptake., Methods: Two online surveys were conducted with non-smokers aged 12-17 to explore perceptions of cigarette appeal, harm and product trial. Study 1 was a within-subject study which examined perceptions of four cigarettes with different coloured paper, and four cigarettes displaying a warning. Study 2 was a between-subject study (with limited power), in which respondents were randomized to one of four cigarettes: (1) regular cigarette; (2) least favourable warning from Study 1; (3) least favourable colour from Study 1; or (4) a combination of the least favourable warning and colour from Study 1. Warnings or colours were considered least favourable when they had lower scores on appeal, harm, and product trial., Results: In Study 1, a cigarette featuring the warning 'cancer, heart disease, stroke' and a drab dark brown cigarette were rated lowest on appeal and trial intentions, and highest on perceived harm. In Study 2, there were no significant differences in perceptions of appeal, harm or trial intentions between the regular and dissuasive cigarettes., Conclusions: Findings from our within-subject study suggest that a cigarette displaying the text 'cancer, heart disease, stroke' and a drab dark brown coloured cigarette are most dissuasive for Dutch non-smoking adolescents. Whether dissuasive cigarettes reduce appeal, reduce product trial, or increase perceptions of harm compared to a regular cigarette should be further examined in larger between-subject studies., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

To solve the problem of a single function encountered by wearable electronic devices, a multifunctional wearable piezoelectric MEMS device is presented, which performs motion monitoring and disease and health warning according to respiratory frequency, functions as an earphone based on the inverse piezoelectric effect of the PZT film. The rigid-flexible coupling sealed vibration membrane allows the piezoelectric MEMS device to eliminate acoustic loss or avoid airflow loss. By placing the device in a simple wearable mask, the inactive, walking, and running states may be possible to be recognized and monitored through respiratory frequency. In the inactive state, the device can identify diseases when abnormally fast or slow respiration occurs. By placing the device in the surgical mask when going out, an early warning of something affecting lung health can be obtained by excessive respiration frequency when wearing the mask for too long. Moreover, the device can also be utilized as an earphone. Higher than 55 dB SPL can be obtained in the full frequency range of the human ear under 2 V, meeting the basic needs of people's hearing. This simple strategy represents a significant step toward future applications of the wearable piezoelectric MEMS device due to its portability, multifunctioning, convenience, and mass production. We demonstrate a multifunctional wearable piezoelectric MEMS device to solve the problem of a single function encountered by wearable electronic devices, which performs motion monitoring and disease and health warning according to respiratory frequency, functions as an earphone based on the inverse piezoelectric effect of the PZT film. [Display omitted] ● A wearable multifunctional piezoelectric MEMS device is proposed. ● Recognizing or monitoring the human motion state and warning early diseases. ● Health impact warning of wearing a surgical mask for too long. ● Being utilized as an earphone and can meet the basic needs of people's hearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Canada implemented 'plain packaging' regulations and rotating health warnings for cannabis products upon legalizing non-medical cannabis in October 2018. Plain packaging and health warnings are effective policy measures for reducing appeal of tobacco products; however, there is little evidence in the cannabis domain.Methods: An experimental task was conducted as part of the online International Cannabis Policy Study. Participants aged 16-65 from Canada (n = 9987) and US states with 'legal' (n = 7376) and 'illegal' (n = 9682) recreational cannabis were randomly assigned to see one of 18 cannabis product images. Outcomes were product appeal (0 = Not at all appealing, 10 = Very appealing) and perceived youth orientation (4 age groups). A 3 (branding: full branding, brand logo only, or plain black packaging) x 2 (health warning labels: present or absent) x 3 (product type: edible gummies, cannabis oil, or pre-rolled joints) factorial design was used.Results: Compared to plain packaging or a brand logo, packages with full branding were considered more appealing and more likely to be youth-oriented (p < 0.001). Products with health warnings were considered less appealing than packages without warnings (p < 0.001). Edible gummies were perceived as more appealing and more likely to be youth-oriented than pre-rolled joints and cannabis oil (p < 0.001). Additionally, edible gummies were rated as significantly more appealing by 16-18 and 19-35-year-olds than by older adults (p < 0.02 for all).Conclusions: Comprehensive health warnings and 'plain packaging' regulations may reduce the appeal of cannabis products in a legal market. The results also provide empirical evidence that edible gummies are perceived to appeal to youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Many countries have now mandated warning labels on e-cigarette products. One example, the EU TPD health warning states, "This product contains nicotine which is a highly addictive substance. [It is not recommended for use by non-smokers]". The impact of the EU TPD warning message on intentions to use, has not been explored within an EU population., Aims: Examine the effect of i) the TPD e-cigarette health warning and ii) an alternative relative risk message, on smokers' willingness to use, likelihood of purchase, and intention to use as a quit aid., Methods: Cross-sectional online study. Ninety-five smokers (55 males; 18-55 years old) were randomly allocated to one of three conditions and viewed ten individually presented e-cigarettes images with either no message, TPD message, or relative risk message. Participants rated i) willingness to use, and likelihood of: ii) purchase, iii) using in the next month, and iv) using in a quit attempt, before and after viewing the images., Results: For willingness to use and likelihood of purchase, ANCOVAs showed a significant main effect of Message Type ( p s, <.05); ratings were lower in the TPD condition. Message type, however did not significantly change likelihood of using in the next month or using in a quit attempt., Conclusions: Preliminary findings suggest that the TPD e-cigarette health warning may reduce smokers' willingness to use and likelihood of purchasing an e-cigarette. Messages conveying reduced harm or indeed, no message at all, may be more effective in encouraging smokers to switch to these lower risk products.