On Your Side
Will graphic cigarette warning labels work?
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Video by tmj4.com
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MILWAUKEE - With almost a million smokers in Wisconsin, tobacco-related illnesses cost the state more than a billion dollars. Tobacco companies argue a mandatory graphic warning label would violate free speech. A few decades ago, when cigarette ads were at their peak, no one knew just how harmful smoking is. Today, we have the research and the stats, and still 1 out of 5 Americans smoke. Maureen Busalachi with Health First Wisconsin can't figure out why. "I think people think they are going to continue to dodge a bullet and unfortunately, about 50% of the people who are addicted will die from smoking-related diseases," Busalachi warns. It's why she supports the new graphic warning labels. Disgusting pictures. Designed to shock... and scare you into stopping "Smokers often underestimate the severity and harm of tobacco," Busalachi adds. UWM Professor Michael
Fendrich has made it his profession to understand people.
"Negative and threatening messages don't work, and they can actually backfire," he explains.
Fendrich has spent a lifetime studying why people do what they do.....or don't do.
He adds, "When you use threats, people turn off to the messages that are conveyed by those threats."
According to him, what does work, is making smoking too expensive for people, or help with the support of quitlines.
Canada has used these type of graphic warning labels for five years, and studies have shown no drop in smoking rates there. Those for the new labels say if it stops just one person from smoking, they're a success.
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