Background
To inform consumers, U.S. Federal Courts have ordered the tobacco industry to disseminate
“corrective statements” (CSs) about their deception regarding five topics: smoker
health effects, nonsmoker health effects, cigarette addictiveness, design of cigarettes
to increase addiction, and relative safety of light cigarettes.
Purpose
To determine how smokers from diverse backgrounds respond to the final, court-mandated
wording of these CSs.
Methods
Data were analyzed from an online consumer panel of 1,404 adult smokers who evaluated
one of five CS topics (n=280–281) by reporting novelty, relevance, anger at the industry, and motivation to
quit because of the CS. Logistic and linear regression models assessed main and interactive
effects of race/ethnicity, gender, education, and CS topic on these responses. Data
were collected in January 2013 and analyzed in March 2013.
Results
Thirty percent to 54% of participants reported that each CS provided novel information,
and novelty was associated with greater relevance, anger at the industry, and motivation
to quit because of the message. African Americans and Latinos were more likely than
non-Hispanic whites to report that CSs were novel, and they had stronger responses
to CSs across all indicators. Compared to men, women reported that CSs were more relevant
and motivated them to quit.
Conclusions
This study suggests that smokers would value and respond to CSs, particularly smokers
from groups that suffer from tobacco-related health disparities.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 21, 2014
Identification
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© 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc.
