Plain packaging and young people

An ongoing project at the University of Bristol is investigating the effect that plain packaging of cigarettes has on visual attention to health warnings in adolescents.

Background

Previous studies have shown that plain packaging of tobacco products reduces the appeal of smoking.  Experimental evidence from the University of Bristol using eye tracking technology suggests that, amoung young adults, plain cigarette packaging increases visual attention towards health warnings as compared with branded packaging, among non-smokers and light smokers, but not amoing daily smokers.  This indicates that many individuals may find plain packaging aversive because it is particularly effect at highlighting the salience of health warnings.

Brand image has been indentified as one of the most important determinates of smoking onset among adolescents and around two-thirds of current smokers report starting smoking before the age of 18.  It is therefore vital to determine the effect that the introduction of plain packaging will have on attention to health warnings in this group and, consequently, the effect thjis may have on attitudes and behaviour.

Methods

Participants were aged between 14 and 18 and were recruited from a local school in Bristol.  To measure visual attention to the different packages of cigarettes, an eye tracking device was used.  Using this device, participants' eye movements were recorded whilst they viewed plain and branded images of cigarette packages.  The number of eye movements to the health warnings and branding information on plain as compared with branded packaging was compared between smokers and non-smokers.

Conclusions

This ongoing research will be important in determining the effect that plain packaging has on attention to health warnings in a particularly vulnerable group of individuals.  If it is found that adolescents are not attending to health warnings when they are presented alongside tobacco branding, this would strengthen the case for the implementation of plain packaging.