Tobacco Product Messaging in a Complex Communication Environment (UPenn TCORS)
Principal Investigator: Robert Hornik and Caryn Lerman
Funding Mechanism: National Institutes of Health- TCORS Grant
ID number: 1P50CA179546-01
Award Date: 9/18/2013
Institution: University of Pennsylvania
The Center will investigate tobacco-related messaging, information and misinformation, all of which is readily available through mass media, social media, user commentary, and the cigarette package itself. The Center will: (1) generate novel data about how public communication affects what people know and believe about tobacco products and how they use these products; (2) determine the most effective ways to convey information and correct misinformation about tobacco products and use; and (3) develop and deploy novel methodologies and tools for the acquisition and analysis of tobacco product information. Project 1 will examine information and misinformation about tobacco products in traditional and emerging media and how exposure to this information alters beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and tobacco use. Project 2 will examine the "staying power" of beliefs about tobacco products and use based on misinformation in social media and will evaluate corrective interventions. Projects 1 and 2 will focus on youth and young adults, whose perceptions and behavior may be most affected by Internet-based information. Project 3 will analyze the effects of packaging color, which can mislead the public to underestimate product harm.
UPENN: Tobacco Product Messaging in a Complex Communication Environment (TCORS) Related Resoures
- Project 1: Information and Misleading Information about Tobacco Products in the "New" and "Old" Public Communication Environment
- Project 2: Belief Echoes: Interventions to Correct Misleading Information about Tobacco Products
- Project 3: Effects of Implicit Messaging by Cigarette Pack Color on Smoking Behaviors
- The original scientific abstract and other project information can be found on the NIH website