Is evoking fear effective? Exploratory findings from a randomised experiment on the impacts of health warning labels on sugar-sweetened beverages.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Health warning labels (HWL) have been suggested to be effective in reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB). Yet, the efficacy and acceptability of SSB HWL of different formats (textual/pictorial) and severity remain unclear. This exploratory study aims to examine the extent and mechanism through which HWL of different formats and severity may affect responses towards the HWL and SSB consumption.

Design

Randomised online experiment. Participants were exposed to images of a hypothetical SSB bearing a HWL of one of three conditions: text-only HWL, moderately severe pictorial HWL and highly severe pictorial HWL. They then responded to theory-based affective, cognitive and behavioural measures.

Setting

Singapore.

Participants

One hundred an

SUBMITTER: Malik S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10882526 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature