Alcohol warnings and warning labels: an examination of alternative alcohol warning messages and perceived effectiveness

Abstract

Examines consumer perceptions regarding the effectiveness of government‐mandated alcohol warning labels and organizational efforts to promote responsible drinking from the perspective of social judgment theory. Investigates receiver involvement as a predictor of perceived effectiveness for alcohol warnings and warning labels. Finds the relationship between levels of alcohol consumption and perceptions of warning‐label effectiveness to be insignificant; and that health consciousness to be ineffective in predicting perceptions of label effectiveness. However, health consciousness was related to the tendency to read product warning labels. Additionally, examines the source credibility and language intensity of the message for their effects on perceptions of alcohol warning effectiveness. The findings demonstrated that when highly credible sources use intensely worded alcohol warnings, the message is perceived to be more effective than when high‐credibility sources use less intensely worded warnings or when messages are presented by low‐credibility sources.