Cigarette Warnings: Recall of Content as a Function of Gender, Message Context, Smoking Habits and Time

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to assess the degree to which smokers and nonsmokers can recall warning information about the hazards of smoking, as a function of message context, time and gender. Subjects were presented with printed messages, advertisements, or cigarette packs containing the four currently used warnings. Recall of the message content was measured immediately after viewing the message, as well as one week later. In general, recall of the informational content of the messages was poor. However, there were differences among the experimental conditions. Smokers recalled more information than nonsmokers, and more information was recalled from the printed messages and the cigarette packs, than from the magazine advertisements. In addition, there were differences in the percentages of information recalled from the four messages. Suggestions for changes in the message content and design are offered, based on the currently available guidelines.