Plain Packaging, Pictorial Warnings and Tobacco Products: An Empirical Assessment

Although tobacco marketing is restricted, tobacco product packaging continues to communicate brand imagery, thereby maintaining brand salience and potentially reducing the impact of health warnings. This study used respondent conditioning theory to predict how disruption of brand imagery would affect the attractiveness of known, unknown and generic tobacco packages. A best-worst study found that familiar branding offset the negative connotations created by a pictorial warning label (PWL). These are the first findings to document the combined effect of PWLs and plain packaging; they suggest generic packs will stimulate cessation attempts and deter smoking initiation