TY - JOUR
T1 - Representation, Exemplification, and Risk
T2 - Resonance of Tobacco Graphic Health Warnings Across Diverse Populations
AU - Bigman, Cabral A.
AU - Nagler, Rebekah H.
AU - Viswanath, K.
N1 - Funding Information:
This article was supported by the Yerby postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (C.A.B.), the National Cancer Institute-funded Harvard Education Program in Cancer Prevention (5 R25-CA057711) (R.H.N.), and National Cancer Institute grant 3P50-CA148596-03S1 (K.V., PI). R.H.N. also acknowledges support from the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health Grant (2 K12-HD055887) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, the Office of Research on Women’s Health, and the National Institute on Aging, administered by the University of Minnesota Deborah E. Powell Center for Women’s Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Taylor & Francis.
PY - 2016/8/2
Y1 - 2016/8/2
N2 - As countries implement Article 11 of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, graphic warning labels that use images of people and their body parts to illustrate the consequences of smoking are being added to cigarette packs. According to exemplification theory, these case examples—exemplars—can shape perceptions about risk and may resonate differently among demographic subpopulations. Drawing on data from eight focus groups (N = 63) with smokers and nonsmokers from vulnerable populations, this qualitative study explores whether people considered exemplars in their reactions to and evaluations of U.S. graphic health warning labels initially proposed by the Food and Drug Administration. Participants made reference to prior and concurrent mass media messages and exemplars during the focus groups and used demographic cues in making sense of the images on the warning labels. Participants were particularly sensitive to age of the exemplars and how it might affect label effectiveness and beliefs about smoking. Race and socioeconomic status also were salient for some participants. We recommend that exemplars and exemplification be considered when selecting and evaluating graphic health warnings for tobacco labels and associated media campaigns.
AB - As countries implement Article 11 of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, graphic warning labels that use images of people and their body parts to illustrate the consequences of smoking are being added to cigarette packs. According to exemplification theory, these case examples—exemplars—can shape perceptions about risk and may resonate differently among demographic subpopulations. Drawing on data from eight focus groups (N = 63) with smokers and nonsmokers from vulnerable populations, this qualitative study explores whether people considered exemplars in their reactions to and evaluations of U.S. graphic health warning labels initially proposed by the Food and Drug Administration. Participants made reference to prior and concurrent mass media messages and exemplars during the focus groups and used demographic cues in making sense of the images on the warning labels. Participants were particularly sensitive to age of the exemplars and how it might affect label effectiveness and beliefs about smoking. Race and socioeconomic status also were salient for some participants. We recommend that exemplars and exemplification be considered when selecting and evaluating graphic health warnings for tobacco labels and associated media campaigns.
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U2 - 10.1080/10410236.2015.1026430
DO - 10.1080/10410236.2015.1026430
M3 - Article
C2 - 26757354
AN - SCOPUS:84954236425
VL - 31
SP - 974
EP - 987
JO - Health Communication
JF - Health Communication
SN - 1041-0236
IS - 8
ER -