Scary New Cigarette Labels Not Based in Psychology

There’s no question that the nine new graphic cigarette warning labels designed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which will be on all cigarette packages sold in the United States starting in September 2012, are ghastly. But has rampant gruesome imagery in shows like House emasculated their effectiveness? And will these pictures really convince a jaded smoker to quit or prevent a rebellious teenager from starting?

The 2009 Family Smoking Prevention Tobacco Control Act, which gave FDA the authority to regulate tobacco, mandated that the agency issue requirements for cigarette labels large enough to make up 50% of the front and rear panels of the package, with specific wording of risk warnings, including “color graphics depicting the negative health consequences of smoking.”
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