Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28428337›Full record

ArticleTobacco control2017

Factual text and emotional pictures: overcoming a false dichotomy of cigarette warning labels.

Lucy Popova, Daniel Owusu, Desmond Jenson, Torsten B Neilands

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Tobacco control, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
24citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Relative Efficacy of Cigarillo Warning Statements in Text and Pictorial Formats: An Experimental Study Among a Sample of US Young Adults.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025
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  9. Feeling Hopeful Motivates Change: Emotional Responses to Messages Communicating Comparative Risk of Electronic Cigarettes and Combusted Cigarettes.Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education · 2019
    Trial
  10. Targeted Versus Nontargeted Communication About Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems in Three Smoker Groups.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018
    Trial
  11. Article
  12. Article
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  14. Developing Pictorial Cigarillo Warnings: Insights From Focus Groups.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2021
    Article
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  20. Advancing Tobacco Product Warning Labels Research Methods and Theory: A Summary of a Grantee Meeting Held by the US National Cancer Institute.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2019
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Lucy PopovaSchool of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Daniel OwusuSchool of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Desmond JensonTobaccoControl Legal Consortium, a program of the Public Health Law Center, at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA.
Torsten B NeilandsDepartment of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.

Funding

Ujima Mentoring ProgramP30MH062246 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI MALLORY O JOHNSON · 2001 to 2026
$57.4M
The Science of Decision Making: Connecting People and PolicyP50DA036128 · NIDA · GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY · PI ERIKSEN, MICHAEL PAUL · 2013 to 2018
$19.4M
Communicating harm of new tobacco productsR00CA187460 · NCI · GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY · PI POPOVA, LYUDMILA · 2016 to 2018
$738k
NCI NIH HHS R00 CA187460NIDA NIH HHS P50 DA036128NIMH NIH HHS P30 MH062246
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIn reviewing the first set of pictorial warning labels in the USA, the courts equated textual labels with facts and information, and images with emotion. This study tested the differences in perceived informativeness and emotion between textual and pictorial cigarette warning labels.

methodsAn online study with 1838 US adults who were non-smokers (n=764), transitioning smokers (quit smoking in the past 2 years or currently trying to quit, n=505) or current smokers (n=569). Each participant evaluated 9 out of 81 text and pictorial cigarette warning labels. Participants reported to what extent they perceived the label as informative and factual and the negative emotions they felt while looking at each label. We used linear mixed models to account for the nesting of multiple observations within each participant.

resultsThere were no significant differences in perceived informativeness between textual (mean 6.15 on a 9-point scale) and pictorial labels (6.14, p=0.80, Cohen's d=0.003). Textual labels evoked slightly less emotion (4.21 on a 9-point scale) than pictorial labels (4.42, p<0.001, Cohen's d=0.08). Perceived informativeness and emotion were strongly correlated (Pearson r=0.53, p<0.001).

conclusionOur findings contradict courts' conclusions that pictorial messages are emotional and not factual. Pictorial labels are rated as informative and factual, textual labels evoke emotion, and emotionality and informativeness are strongly correlated. These findings serve as evidence for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to counteract the claim that pictorial warning labels, by definition, are not 'purely factual and uncontroversial'.

Indexed as

LitigationPackaging and LabellingTobacco industry

Identifiers

PMID28428337
PMCPMC5650578

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.