The effects of variant descriptors on the potential effectiveness of plain packaging

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To examine the effects that variant descriptor labels on cigarette packs have on smokers' perceptions of those packs and the cigarettes contained within. METHOD: As part of two larger web-based studies (each involved 160 young adult ever-smokers 18-29 years old), respondents were shown a computer image of a plain cigarette pack and sets of related variant descriptors. The sets included terms that varied in terms of descriptors of colours as names, flavour strength, degrees of filter venting, filter types, quality, type of cigarette and numbers. For each set, respondents rated the highest and lowest of two or three of the following four characteristics: quality, strongest or weake..