Eye tracking research: graphic images make an impact on smokers
We all know smoking is bad for your health. Ever since the Surgeon General of the United States published a report on the dangers of cigarette smoking in 1964, measures have been put in place by federal and state governments to create awareness and discourage smoking. One such measure is packaging regulation, which requires that all packaging and advertisements have a warning label regarding the serious health hazards of smoking. Traditionally, warning labels on cigarette packages are plain, text-only boxes, but recent eye tracking research suggests that smokers are more likely to remember the health hazard warnings if graphic images are used.
In elementary school, we had an educator come to our classroom to teach us about the dangers of smoking. A prop they used to drive the point home was an encased, tar-covered human lung, which had belonged to a lifelong smoker. The image, to this day, is still ingrained in my head. The eye tracking study conducted by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine was based on a similar “shock-value” concept. They wanted to know first, are smokers getting the message, and second, how are they getting the message?
They recruited 200 smokers, who were shown 2 different versions of a cigarette warning label while using an eye tracker. One of the labels was a traditional, text-only design, while the other included a very graphic image of the consequences of long term smoking in addition to the written warning.
The results showed that 83% of the subjects recalled the warning on the label with the graphic image, compared with only 50% of those who viewed the text-only version. The gaze duration on the graphic image also impacted the recall with a positive correlation; the longer someone looked at the image, the more likely they were to recall the warning.
This study gave some valuable insights that may lead to the creation of more effective health warning labels on cigarette packaging in the future.
Related articles: