e. Competence
WARNING LABELS SCENARIO
Cigarette packages and advertisements have included warning labels for several years,
but the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act)
signed into law in 2009 required that stronger and more graphic health warnings appear
on cigarette packages by 2012. In 2011, the Food and Drug Administration proposed
nine new textual warning statements that were much stronger than previous warning
statements. The new warning statements included statements such as “Cigarettes are
addictive,” “Cigarettes cause cancer,” and “Tobacco smoke may harm your children.”
These statements were to be accompanied by color graphics depicting the negative
health effects of smoking. Some of the proposed graphics included a picture of diseased
lungs, a man smoking with smoke coming out of a hole in his throat, rotted teeth and
mouth cancer, a mother blowing smoke in her baby’s face, and dead and dying people.
The Tobacco Control Act dictated the placement of these statements and graphics on
packages and advertisements, taking up at least 50 percent of the front of the package
and at least 20 percent of the advertisement. Research reveals that the best way to quit
is the reduce the intake of tobacco in small increments over time rather than an attempt
to quit it altogether. Refer to Warning Labels Scenario. Many smokers will read the
labels on the packs and process the image in the warning, but this will not bring about a
change in behavior as they don”t believe that will happen to them personally. This is an
example of _____.
a. selective exposure
b. accommodation
c. assimiliation
d. learning
e. selective distortion