Fear Appeal Intensity of Visual Cigarette Warnings: An Experimental Research on Turkish Young Adults
Aybige Demirci Senkal, Cagla P. Utkutug Bozoklu

Abstract
Warnings used on cigarette packages differ among countries. These differences are related to the intensity of fear appeal and chosen visuals. Researches on fear appeal show that there is a positive linear relationship between message acceptance and fear arousing conditions. The aim of this research is to assess the most effective fear intensity level of cigarette warnings. An experimental research is conducted on 126 Turkish young adults. They are separated in three groups according to developed visual cigarette packages with varied fear intensity. Their affective responses, recognition ranks and intentions to quit smoking were compared. The results indicate that there is surprisingly no statistically difference between visuals in terms of intensity of fear appeal whereas visual warning with higher fear intensity is perceived as more effective on eliciting intention to quit smoking than others. According to subjects’ statements, this result may be explained by the fact that fear intensities of all visual warnings are comparatively rather higher than Turkish local cigarette warnings.

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