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UPenn TCORS: Effects of Implicit Messaging by Cigarette Pack Color on Smoking Behaviors

Principal Investigator: Andrew Strasser

Funding Mechanism: National Institutes of Health- TCORS Grant

ID number: 1P50CA179546-01

Award Date: 9/18/2013

Institution: University of Pennsylvania

Cigarette pack colors may impact smokers’ perceptions regarding product safety. This project will analyze the impact of packaging color as a form of implicit misinformation on tobacco use behavior in 360 daily Marlboro non-menthol red (n=180) and gold (n=180) cigarette smokers aged 21-60. The study’s 50-day protocol will randomize participants to the following study conditions: cigarette pack color manipulation (red, gold, or plain olive-brown packaging) and warning label manipulation (graphic vs. standard text). Participants will (unknowingly) smoke their own-brand cigarettes throughout the study, but will receive them in different colored packages during three 15-day study periods; each subject’s packages will consistently include either a graphic or a text warning label. Specific aims are: (1) to examine the effects of changes in cigarette package color versus plain packaging on tobacco product use (smoking rate and topography); (2) to determine whether graphic versus text warning labels moderate the impact of changes in package color on product use; and (3) to identify specific attitudes and beliefs that mediate the effects of color packaging and warning labels on tobacco use behaviors. This project will provide information about how factors related to tobacco packaging and labeling influence risk perception and product use.

UPENN: Tobacco Product Messaging in a Complex Communication Environment (TCORS) Related Resoures

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