Young children worldwide understand tobacco brands but not health warnings

This international research suggests that the graphic health warnings on cigarette packets are seldom understood by very young children, even though they do know tobacco brands. Brazil had the largest and most graphic warnings, and the highest awareness. At the other end of the scale, Indian packets featured only a symbolic scorpion warning, and Nigeria a vague written statement. 'Heath warning labels on cigarette packs are an important medium for communicating about the serious health effects caused by tobacco products,' said Dr. Cohen, director of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Institute for Global Tobacco Control. 'These messages are most effective when the labels are large and include pictures that evoke an emotional response.' This is particularly important for low-literacy populations, children and young people.

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