No Tobacco Day Encourages Picture Warnings
May 25, 2009 by Peggy Rowland
Filed under Women's Health
World No Tobacco Day will be observed on May 31. The focus this year is on the importance of health warnings on tobacco products. According to WHO, images (rather than just text) on tobacco packages greatly increase the effectiveness of health warnings. They are also more effective in less literate populations. The images may show someone with a disease caused by smoking.
Studies carried out after pictorial warnings were implemented showed that in Brazil 54% of smokers changed their opinion about the consequences of smoking as a result of the warnings. In Canada, 58% of smokers spent more time thinking about the health effects of smoking due to the warnings with images.
In Thailand, 81% of young people ages 13-17 said that the pictorial warnings made them think more about the health impact of smoking.
If you’d like your government to implement pictorial warnings on tobacco packages, encourage your representative to follow recommendations from WHO. More information can be found in the World No Tobacco Day 2009 brochure available online.
(PSA ad via WHO)
We have those images in Quebec and it’s been found that although they’re pretty gross, the smokers become immune to them within no time.
I have a test for you ask a smoker, who just put a pack away, what the warnings was on that pack they just put away. I have yet to see a Canadian smoker know what the warning was. That is not effective and doesn’t make them think (cause they aren’t seeing it), obviously . 34% of the people who smoke said there wasn’t any warnings on packs (wave 9-adult survey) after 5 years of the warnings being on the packs.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/tobac-tabac/research-recherche/por-rop/impact_2005-eng.php
Hmm. I don’t know. Maybe the people in the survey lied?