Source: Canada News
Stopping Cigarette companies grasp on the U.S will save millions of lives each year. How to do this though, is still under debate. However, a new study that shows that a certain type of advertising on cigarettes will dramatically affect the amount of smokers.
A recent study by the University of South Carolina suggests that “ Tobacco warning labels that include graphic pictures of the health consequences of smoking are more effective than text-only warnings”.
Like the picture above, the study shows that the more graphic the image, the better it is at warning the smokers of the benefits of quitting smoking. Graphic warnings showing victims of diseases caused from their cigarette smoking, or different types of pictures showing why you shouldn’t smoke, are some of the graphic designs that have been on different packages all over the world, and have been massively successful. James Thrasher, a professor in the school's Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, goes on to say that graphic warnings are already in other countries like Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and Uruguay, these countries “have had massive successes in decreasing smoking rates with graphic warnings”. These should be implemented into the United States, as it would do the same.
People usually with lower incomes smoke at a higher rate than those who make more money, and they are most likely to be unaware of the true health effects of smoking. James Thrasher goes on to say that “ Smoking is also highly concentrated among people with low levels of education, and those groups are the ones that have the weakest response to text warnings. With pictures, you can increase their understanding of the risks of smoking in a way you can't with text."
