Graphic health warnings on cigarette packs are a
very effective way to denormalize/deglamorize smoking and to
incite/help smokers to quit. Canada is a leader in this domain and
there is much to learn from this initiative. The new pictures that are now tested systematically include the quitline number and a website.
LISTEN
Cigarette shock ads under review - Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Canadians should brace themselves for a new round of shocking images on packs of cigarettes, a recent government report suggests.
Health Canada is in the process of reviewing the graphic colour warnings it requires tobacco companies to print on cigarette packs in its continuing efforts to make smokers think twice before they light up.
A recently released report on focus groups held in the fall indicates the current graphic colour images on the packs lost their impact on smokers over time and new ones should be found to replace them. The less-than-subtle images have been featured on packs since 2001.
The new images shown to focus groups suggest the department wants pictures to be memorable for their medical shock value and ability to impose feelings of guilt among smokers, particularly parents and pregnant women who endanger their children with second-hand smoke.
One of the new graphics depicts a pregnant woman with a lit cigarette on one side of the message, countered by the image of a fetus in the womb also smoking a cigarette, along with the tag line "Quit. You're smoking for two."
Another one, which showed a close-up of the mouth of a throat-cancer sufferer with the tag "Throat cancer. It's TOUGH", was considered "gross" and "upsetting" by participants in the focus groups.
The department tested 17 new images with four focus groups held in Halifax and Montreal with youth and adult smokers. Renee Bergeron said the report, conducted by Corporate Research Associates Inc., cost taxpayers $186,885.
Health Canada is currently conducting public consultations that may lead to development of new health warning messages, said Ms. Bergeron. She noted the new images are still in development and have not yet been approved.
Eric Waddell, a spokesman in Health Minister Tony Clement's office, said the Conservative government will stick to the program of graphic images, which made Canada a world leader in its aggressive anti-smoking campaign.
Two of the proposed images revolve around an ashtray. One shows a dead rat lying next to one with the tagline "Cigarettes contain arsenic. A rat poison." A second image shows a smiling mother, with her husband and sleeping daughter, all lying in the ashes at the bottom of an ashtray, next to the headline "When you smoke, they smoke."
The focus group report stated the "smoking fetus" warning label received strong evaluations, although some participants were concerned "about the cartoonish nature of the image" and believed some people might see it as "too humorous" and that would affect the credibility of the message.
Meanwhile, a disturbing image of an underweight baby in post-natal care scored high with focus groups: "The concept featuring low birthweight was the most noticeable and memorable, largely due to its visual impression of conveying an actual and disturbing outcome of smoking during pregnancy."
The participants said the "smoking fetus" image also had merit, with a number of Montreal participants suggesting the image would have more impact if it showed the baby inside the mother's belly. The report also said the "arsenic" message made several participants think twice about their smoking habit.
"I honestly never knew that they contained arsenic and it's disturbing to think of smoking rat poison," one is quoted as saying. However, another participant believed the image was not clear since it suggested the rat was killed by cigarette smoke, which was not viewed as "credible." onse" as the picture of a young girl wearing a T-shirt that said "Cigarettes took my DAD," along with the tagline "Smoking destroys families."
The image of a dying man suffering from lung cancer in a hospital bed, with his sobbing family at his bedside, also was received a high "emotional" rating. It carried the tagline "Lung cancer. It's not just a painful death for you."
The report concluded many of the images presented to the focus groups had "notable merit" with further development, while confirming the ideas presented in the new ones should be "sufficiently differentiated" from past ones to generate attention.
I saw one photography search engine with all kind of photos – about 6 million!
Please check this link http://xcavator.net/
It can help you more than most sites because it has some cool visual search tools. You’ll find what you need in seconds.
Posted by: hkmarket | June 05, 2008 at 05:15 AM
Really, really interesting. I look forward to hearing more about your research and I am looking forward to reading the article.
Posted by: Hotel seo | December 04, 2008 at 11:54 PM