The FDA recently unveiled new graphic warning labels that will appear on cigarette packs starting in September 2012. They are essentially advertisements designed to prevent children from smoking and encourage adults to quit.
Bearing images such as rotting teeth, diseased lungs and someone smoking through a tracheotomy opening, these new Warning Labels are certainly attention getting. But will they work?
The FDA thinks so, estimating a 213,000 reduction in the number of smokers in 2013. I’m more skeptical. Testing has shown that focusing on the negatives doesn’t work in advertising. In fact, one of John Caples’ 5 rules for writing headlines is “Avoid, when possible, headlines that paint the gloomy or negative side of the picture. Take the cheerful, positive angle.”
Most smokers know these risks, and they do it anyway, so reminding them is unlikely to change anything. Even if the new Labels do strike new fear into people, they don’t explicitly prevent a solution, just the problem. And problems are too easy to ignore.
The messages probably won’t resonate enough with young people to work as an effective deterrent either. This audience tends to feel invincible, especially when the possible consequences aren’t immediate.
That’s my take.
