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Health warnings employing graphic pictures appear to be effective at dissuading young people from initiating smoking.

More than 90% of Canadian youth agree that picture warnings on Canadian packages have provided them with important information about the health effects of smoking cigarettes, are accurate, and make smoking seem less attractive.¹ Other national surveys of Canadian youth suggest similar levels of support and self-reported impact.²

A recent longitudinal evaluation of pictorial warnings among Australian school children found that students were more likely to read, attend to, think about, and talk about health warnings after the pictorial warnings were implemented in 2006.³ In addition, experimental and established smokers were more likely to think about quitting and forgo cigarettes, while intention to smoke was lower among those students who had talked about the warning labels and had forgone cigarettes.

1.     Health Canada. The Health effects of tobacco and health warning messages on cigarette packages—Survey of adults and adults smokers: Wave 9 surveys. Prepared by Environics Research Group; January, 2005.

2.     Brown KS, Diener A, Ahmed R, Hammond D. Survey Methods. In: 2002 Youth Smoking Survey Technical Report. 2005. Health Canada, Ottawa. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/pubs/tobac-tabac/yssetj-2002/index_e.html

3.     White V, Webster B, Wakefield M. (2008) Do graphic health warning labels have an impact on adolescents’ smoking-related beliefs and behaviours? Addiction. 103(9):1562-71.