Cigarette Constituent Health Communications for Smokers: Impact of Chemical, Imagery, and Source

Abstract

This paper describes how components of communication campaigns about cigarette constituents are perceived. Multiple elements of a tobacco constituent message, including type of constituent, image, and message source may influence the reception of messages among current smokers. Communication campaigns targeting smokers that utilize arsenic as the tobacco constituent, visual imagery, and the FDA logo may be particularly effective in changing key outcomes among smokers. The effects of such campaigns should be examined, as well as the mechanisms through which such campaigns affect change.

Do Smokers Recall Source or Quitline on Cigarette Constituent Messages?

“…6–8 This constituent disclosure text was then paired with images and other relevant anti-smoking information using a series of focus groups and online experiments. 13,34 The final messages, formatted as a hypothetical print ad campaign, included constituent messages about health effects of arsenic, formaldehyde and uranium in cigarette smoke, as well as a message about the health harms of smoking in general. The message about the general health harms of smoking was included to compare more general communication about the health effects of smoking cigarettes to the efficacy of the messages about specific constituents.…”

Testing a Brief Web-based Intervention to Increase Recognition of Tobacco Constituents

“…Our study used limited tailoring to a user's brand name and minimal interactivity of content, which precluded our ability to investigate other web design features; future investigation into more extensive tailoring and interactivity should examine their combined and independent impacts on consumer's recognition or other behavioral outcomes. As evidence continues to emerge on the best format for informational websites on HPCHs and their potential health effects, [5][6][7] more complex, multicomponent interventions may be needed to examine these factors simultaneously. The identification or recognition of HPHC represents one dimension of learning but does not represent deeper comprehension or memory.…”

“…4 Literature is emerging on the most effective manner for presenting HPHC information to consumers to increase awareness of their potential harms to health. [5][6][7] In 2009, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (referred to as the Tobacco Control Act) gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to require tobacco companies to report to the FDA the presence and quantities of HPHCs in each brand and subbrand of regulated tobacco products. 8,9 The Tobacco Control Act requires that the FDA share the ingredients of tobacco products in a "public display" that is "understandable and not misleading" to consumers as a part of its regulatory and education activities.…”

Effect of risk messages on risk appraisals, attitudes, ambivalence, and willingness to smoke hookah in young adults

“…Study participants were recruited in August 2016 through the crowdsourcing website Amazon Mechanical Turk for an online experiment. Mechanical Turk has been used in similar studies testing the effects of tobacco messages ( Kowitt et al, 2019 ; Lipkus et al, 2017 ; Mays et al, 2016b ; Pearson et al, 2016 ; Seidenberg, Jo, & Ribisl, 2018 ) and research demonstrates its validity for this purpose ( Jeong et al, 2018 ; Kraemer, Strasser, Lindblom, Niaura, & Mays, 2017 ). Although the online recruitment generates a convenience sample, recent evidence demonstrates correlational and experimental studies conducted through Mechanical Turk for tobacco research produce comparable effects to those using population-based samples ( Jeong et al, 2018 ; Kraemer et al, 2017 ).…”