Cigarettes, Design, and Behavioral Change
Posted on November 18, 2010 | posted by:
In the Transdisciplinary Design Seminar, we have been discussing whether design can change behavior. The US Food & Drug Administration seems to think that it can as it proposes new, larger, and more graphic required warnings for cigarette packages and advertisements.
The aesthetic value of the proposed labels deserves a separate conversation, but the overall effort provokes an intriguing set of questions. Do these labels make a difference at all? Who are they meant to target and for what desired behavior — more awareness of the risks before buying or having potential consumers draw their hands back at the sight of these ghastly images?
But aren’t smokers already aware of the risks of smoking? Granted, the most graphic of these labels (like the rotted teeth below) may scare a child away from starting, but a friend who smokes once told me that she would find warnings more effective if they read something like, “You could go on a nice vacation with the money you save by not being addicted to these.”
That certainly sounds like a smart alternative and an approach that could make a stronger visual impression than a cigarette pack, an arrow, and a tombstone.
Leave your thoughts on the effort in the comments!