Short and Sweet: The Persuasive Effects of Message Framing and Temporal Context in Antismoking Warning Labels

Figures & data

Fig. 1. Two pairs of cigarette packages featuring both of the gain-framed short-term consequences of quitting smoking (i.e., top pair: “If you quit smoking, your stamina will improve”; bottom pair: “If you quit smoking, this will save you a lot of money”).

Table 1. Means (SD) for attitudes and intention to quit smoking

	Attitudes		Intentions
	Temporal context		Temporal context
Frame	Short	Long	Short	Long
Gain	6.04 (0.94)	5.51 (1.34)	5.53 (1.57)	3.01 (1.42)
Loss	5.65 (1.28)	4.50 (2.24)	3.51 (1.89)	2.21 (1.63)

Fig. 2. Intention to quit smoking.

Table

	Message frame
Temporal context	Loss	Gain
Short term	If you smoke, your stamina will reduce.*	If you quit smoking, your stamina will improve.*
	If you smoke, this will cost you a lot of money.*	If you quit smoking, this will save you a lot of money.*
	If you smoke, this will make you unattractive to your social environment.	If you quit smoking, this will make you attractive to your social environment.
	If you smoke, you will get a negative image.	If you quit smoking, you will get a positive image.
	If you smoke, you will smell bad.	If you quit smoking, you will smell better.
Long term	If you smoke, you will get black lungs.*	If you quit smoking, you will get clean lungs.*
	If you smoke, your lungs will get damaged.	If you quit smoking, your lungs will last longer.
	If you smoke, you will hurt your health.	If you quit smoking, you will advance your health.
	If you smoke, you will hurt the health of the people around you.	If you quit smoking, you will advance the health of the people around you.
	If you smoke, you will get rotten teeth.*	If you quit smoking, you will get healthy teeth.*

Note. Asterisks indicate the smoking outcomes that were used in the experiment.

Table

	Message frame
	Loss				Gain
Outcome	Valence	Time frame	Relevance	Threat	Valence	Time frame	Relevance	Threat
Stamina*	1.53 (0.67)	2.31 (1.06)	5.47 (1.08)	5.28 (0.92)	6.53 (0.76)	2.16 (1.25)	5.50 (1.14)	1.97 (1.28)
Financial costs*	1.25 (0.44)	2.13 (1.26)	6.03 (0.93)	5.47 (0.92)	6.63 (0.61)	2.09 (1.33)	6.06 (0.95)	2.47 (1.78)
Attractiveness to social environment	2.00 (1.02)	2.38 (1.31)	4.75 (1.55)	4.88 (1.26)	6.19 (1.00)	2.03 (1.31)	4.97 (1.58)	1.81 (1.26)
Image	2.25 (1.27)	2.81 (1.42)	4.53 (1.63)	4.69 (1.49)	6.19 (1.03)	2.16 (1.35)	4.84 (1.69)	1.91 (1.25)
Smell	1.75 (1.02)	2.13 (1.34)	4.91 (1.67)	4.31 (0.93)	6.16 (1.27)	2.16 (1.53)	4.84 (1.74)	2.22 (1.48)
Cleanliness of lungs*	1.28 (0.58)	6.28 (0.92)	2.94 (1.61)	5.50 (0.88)	6.56 (0.67)	6.09 (0.96)	3.06 (1.37)	2.06 (1.29)
Damage to lungs	1.31 (0.59)	6.31 (0.97)	3.44 (1.78)	6.13 (0.83)	6.50 (0.72)	6.38 (0.87)	3.44 (1.50)	2.41 (1.60)
Health of person	1.38 (0.61)	5.47 (1.39)	3.84 (1.39)	5.28 (0.96)	6.72 (0.52)	5.16 (1.87)	4.44 (1.34)	2.19 (1.49)
Health of social environment	1.66 (1.10)	4.47 (2.03)	4.13 (1.64)	5.50 (0.76)	6.31 (0.82)	4.59 (2.20)	3.97 (1.53)	2.19 (1.64)
Teeth*	1.41 (0.62)	5.94 (1.24)	2.94 (1.34)	5.28 (1.00)	6.44 (0.72)	5.72 (1.02)	3.13 (1.34)	2.19 (1.42)

Note. Asterisks denote the health outcomes of smoking that were used in the experiment.