An Assessment towards Advertisement with Warning Label:

Attached on the Product Packaging: Kids vs Tweens

Rizal Edy Halim and Faisal Muttaqin

Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia

Keywords: Social Marketing, Warning Label, Social Consequence Label, Kid and Tween, Unhealthy Food and

Beverage.

Abstract: Social marketing becomes an academic urgency in the field of marketing science as a result of the many

negative effects arising from business marketing activities. The main targets of such unhealthy product

marketing are children and adolescents. Correspondingly, this study targets the age groups of kids and

tweens. The method used in this research is experiment lab, which involved 180 participants from two age

groups namely kids and tweens. As a result, the study found that the influence of warning label on the age

of tweens is greater than in the age of the children. Meanwhile, the use of visual and textual warning label

using social consequences as content proved to be effective at the age of tweens. The results of this study

are useful for the science development of social marketing, especially within the study of warning labels,

specifically to give recommendation for some alternative warning labels with the additional use of social

consequences content.

1 INTRODUCTION

Empirical testing for warning label towards

unhealthy food and beverage products is still

inadequate. Meanwhile there is urgency for

academics to slow the rate of deceived consumers.

One study from (Effertz et al., 2014) found that

warning label on beverage packaging affects teen

buying intention. Also, (VanEpps et al., 2016) found

that warning label in food product containing caloric

value have been shown to affect consumer

purchasing intent towards unhealthy food products.

However, the fact that there is inadequate research

on warning label for food and beverage packaging

presents the urgency for academics to examine the

effects of warning labels.

Understanding the health risks upon consuming

the products can influence consumers in choosing

the product to purchase. (Berry et al., 2017) found

that consumer understanding on health risks

possessed by a particular product is one factor that

affects consumers’ intent to purchase such particular

products. These findings are very important for

demarketing strategy. Therefore, in this study,

researchers will test their influence on unhealthy

food and beverage products. The research aims to

fill the research void within social marketing

domains associated with warning labels and the anti-

food and unhealthy beverage campaigns.

The scope of the research is limited in target to

elementary school children within three Indonesia

major cities. The marketing of unhealthy food and

beverage products was chosen as the subject because

elementary school students are at risk of being

targeted by this.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Use of Warning Label in the

Product Pack

Packaging can be an important promotional tool for

marketers in helping to create a profitable brand

image and to link strategic marketing elements

(Halim et al., 2014). To increase brand value,

marketers strive to develop attractive packaging that

creates desired brand positioning and to reinforce

promotional messages delivered through integrated

marketing communications. A packaging can

provide a more positive promotional effect than

advertising (Halim et al., 2014), thus marketers

Halim, R. and Muttaqin, F.

An Assessment towards Advertisement with Warning Label: Attached on the Product Packaging: Kids vs Tweens.

DOI: 10.5220/0008492803370342

In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Business Management (ICEBM Untar 2018), pages 337-342

ISBN: 978-989-758-363-6

337

strive to create a packaging that is viewed as positive

which eventually can improve purchasing intent. For

products that are potentially harmful to consumers,

putting warning and disclosure on the packaging is

an important potential communication tool for

public health policy and government agencies

(Goodall and Appiah, 2008). The warning label on

the product is a form of consumer protection (Halim

and Muttaqin, 2014; Halim et al., 2014). Warnings

and disclosures may inform consumers about the

potential risks and hazards associated with the use of

the product and, in turn, offset the positive

consequences derived from effective design

packages and other promotions.

2.2 Textual Warning Label

Textual warning label have been used on both food

and pharmaceutical products in order to protect

consumers (Halim et al., 2014). Textual warning

label on alcoholic beverage, junk food and

pharmaceutical products have been around for a long

time. Some researchers have suggested that textual

warning label may affect individual behavior, such

as (Andrews et al., 1993; L. M. and E, 2017). Based

on the principles of persuasive communication

theory, the uses of warning labels have different

effects on individual beliefs and attitudes. The

findings reveal that health-warning label can be

trusted. This finding is reinforced and expanded by

(Bollard et al., 2016; Borland et al., 2009; Bushman,

1998; Hennigs et al., 2017; Kersbergen and Field,

2017; L. M. and E, 2017; McCloud et al., 2017;

Mead, Cohen, Kennedy, Gallo, & Latkin, 2015),

who found that warning labels are believed to be an

effective way to change people's behavior.

As described in the previous section, research on

warning label within social marketing have proved

that warning label can influence the intention to

purchase a product, as observed in (Effertz et al.,

2014; Halim et al., 2014; Hennigs et al., 2017; Kees

et al., 2006; Murdock and Rajagopal, 2017;

Shiyanbola et al., 2017). In line with the progress

made from the research on warning label, the

analysis within this topic is becoming incisive

(Bader et al., 2017; Bollard et al., 2016; Kees et al.,

2006; Mead et al., 2016; Murdock and Rajagopal,

2017). Although many previous studies have shown

the effectiveness of warning labels in affecting

consumer consumption patterns, social marketing

academics are still worried about the increasingly

vigorous promotion of health-damaging products

such as beverages and junk food which eventually

will take on a larger role in creating undesirable

consumption behaviors.

2.3 Message Content on Warning

Label

Furthermore, the use of visual and textual warning

label has been widely applied to developed and

developing countries. Especially in Indonesia, the

warning label on unhealthy food and beverage

products still seems to get less attention from

consumers. The warning label seems to be used only

as a complement to the packaging as a product

prerequisites’ when entering the market. For

example, the warning labels used on snack products

are textual label that use normative writing and do

not draw attention, both in term of design and

content. The design factor on warning label has been

one of important factors in attracting the consumer's

attention, to communicate the purpose of warning

label to the fullest (Bader et al., 2017; Halim et al.,

2014; Kees et al., 2006; Levy et al., 2017; McCloud

et al., 2017; Mead et al., 2015, 2016; Mutti et al.,

2016; Romer et al., 2017; Tannenbaum et al., 2015).

In term of content, elements on warning label

generally describe health risks information

concerning the consumption of food and beverage

products. These labels are proven to be effective in

reducing consumption behavior.

2.4 Kids and Tweens Group

Being the main victim of junk food products around

the world, for example in the United States,

Australia, America, Singapore etc., children and

adolescents are generally the focus of anti-junk food

campaigns globally. The fact that most teenagers

and children are exposed to various types of anti-

junk food messages (e.g. from the media,

community, school and family), and are continuing

to adopt the products is rather troublesome. This

since becomes the main objective among health care

practitioners and designers to prevent them from

developing a junk food addiction.

As children enter adolescence, they often seek to

develop their identity. Physical, cognitive and social

changes that occur today can cause variation in

one’s self-image (Halim and Muttaqin, 2014; Halim

et al., 2014). As a result, young people may question

the personality or the kind of individual they want to

follow. In their search for identity, advertisers want

the purchase of their junk food products to dictate

teens. This characteristic serves easy preferences for

marketers in expanding their products. For example,

ICEBM Untar 2018 - International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Business Management (ICEBM) Untar

338

cigarette campaigns that target teenagers through

music festivals, challenging games, and sports.

Another example is food companies that use visually

appealing animations or cartoon characters to attract

the attention of consumers within this age group.

3 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

& HYPHOTHESES

After analysing the previous research about warning

label on unhealthy products, the researchers present

the following picture as the research model, which

means to convey the mindset or thought-framework

within this study.

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework.

The conceptual framework that we use within

this research is a refinement and an extension of the

previous research as found in (Halim et al., 2014;

Kees et al., 2006; Murdock and Rajagopal, 2017).

As the extension to the concept of warning label, the

research adds one more type of content used in

warning label that is social consequences’ content.

In addition to using visual and textual warning label

containing health-risk content, social consequence

content is expected to be used in warning label due

to its capability of adversely affecting the

consumers. The effect of warning label is believed to

be further influenced by the consumer age factor

(Effertz et al., 2014). Within this study, we

compared the two age groups that are tweens and

kids. This is in line with previous excerpts that

support the notion that these two age groups are

seemingly the most susceptible target of unhealthy

food and beverage products.

H1: The effectiveness of visual label containing

social consequences content is greater on

tweens group’s purchasing intent than kids

group. And;

H2: The effectiveness of the visual-textual warning

label contain health-risk content is greater on

tweens group’s purchasing intent than the kids

group.

4 METHOD

4.1 Procedures and Sample

To answer the research problem, the research uses

experimental lab method. It is in the form of a causal

study used to describe evidence of a causal

relationship (Malhotra, 2007). The experimental

design of this research consisted of 3 (textual

warning label, visual warning label, textual-visual

warning label) x 2 (health-risk content, social-

consequences content) inter-subjects. Participants

were randomly placed within the 6 cells from the

experimental design formation. Each cell was given

a different stimulus. There were a total of 180

participants, in which tweens and kids group

consisted of 90 participants respectively. The

independent variable was a warning label consisting

of 6 types of labels, namely, textual social

consequences content, visual social consequences

content, textual health content, visual-risk health

content, textual-visual social consequences content,

and textual-visual heath-risk content. The dependent

variable was purchase intention. The question items

used in this research are in accordance with those

defined by Baker and Churchill (1977). The research

used a 7-scale question indicating the purchase

intention, with 1 being “highly wanting to” and 7

being “highly not wanting to”.

5 ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

The result shows that visual warning label

containing social content lead to diminish purchase-

intention at the mean value of M = 5.24 against

Tween group, and M = 4.67 against kids groups.

This implies that the influence of visual label

containing social content is greater at the age of

tween than the kid. Then, to see the synergy of the

effect, t-test was applied. The value shows sig.000 (p

<0,5) and t-value = 40,62 > t-table df (29) = 1.69,

placing H0 in reject area. This implies that there is a

significant influence between the two mean

variables being compared. H1 is therefore accepted:

The effectiveness of visual label containing social

consequences content is greater on tweens group

purchasing intent than kids group.

The result also shows that visual-textual warning

label containing health-risk content lead to diminish

purchase-intention at the mean value of M = 5.40

against tweens group, and M = 5.07 against kids

group. This implies that the influence of visual-

An Assessment towards Advertisement with Warning Label: Attached on the Product Packaging: Kids vs Tweens

339

textual warning label containing health-risk content

is greater at the age of tween than the kid. Then, to

see the significance of the effect, t-test was applied.

The value shows sig.000 (p <0,5) and t-value =

44.10 > t-table df (29) = 1.69, placing H0 in reject

area. This implies that there is a significant influence

between the two mean variables being compared. H2

is therefore accepted: The effectiveness of the visual-

textual warning label contain health-risk content is

greater on tweens group purchasing intent than the

kids group.

6 DISCUSSION

The effective content is characterized by its ability

to warn about danger, to explain the consequences,

and to give instructions to avoid such danger. The

results coming from this study register a new

findings within the domain of product warning label

effectiveness. Through the manipulation of certain

design characteristics, the result shows that the

method indeed improving and sharping the warning

label effectiveness. The there characteristics found

on warning label are text or label writings, display

format, and the location of warnings on product.

First, the content of warning label refers to the

choice of easily digestible vocabulary such as the

health-risk that might arise when consuming the

products. The notion is in line with the explanation

from previous chapter that the text writing for

warning label needs to consider all text format

characteristics such as font colour, font size, text

direction, spacing ratio, instructions, bolded text,

and so on, and this is considered with the focus to

make the text messages to be more readable or

recognisable. It is reinforced with the findings from

Adams and Edworthy (1995) research; Barlow and

Wogalter (1993); Hammond et al., (2011) Malouff et

al., (1993).

Furthermore, the result coming from this study

also underline the assertion that the important

parameter for effective labelling includes label

configuration, label form, border, package design,

colour labelling, and so on, as suggested by Adams

and Edworthy (1995); Barlow and Wogalter (1993);

and Bhalla and Lastovicka (1984). It also underlined

the importance of considering the selection of

appropriate images illustrating both health-risk and

social consequences that might arise when

consuming the products.

REFERENCES

Andrews, J. C., Burton, S., & Kees, J. (2011). Is Simpler

Always Better? Consumer Evaluations of Front-of-

Package Nutrition Symbols. Journal of Public Policy

& Marketing, 30(2), 175–190.

https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.30.2.175

Andrews, J. C., Netemeyer, R. G., & Durvasula, S. (1993).

The Role of Cognitive Responses as Mediators of

Alcohol Warning Label Effects. Source Journal of

Public Policy & Marketing, 12(1), 57–68.

Argo, J. J., & Main, K. J. (2004). Meta-Analyses of the

Effectiveness of Warning Labels. Journal of Public

Policy & Marketing, 23(2), 193–208.

https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.23.2.193.51400

Bader, R. K., Shihab, R. A., Al-Rimawi, D. H., & Hawari,

F. I. (2017). Informing tobacco control policy in

Jordan: Assessing the effectiveness of pictorial

warning labels on cigarette packs. BMC Public Health,

18(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4642-8

Bansal-Travers, M., Hammond, D., Smith, P., &

Cummings, K. M. (2011). The impact of cigarette

pack design, descriptors, and warning labels on risk

perception in the U.S. American Journal of Preventive

Medicine, 40(6), 674–682.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2011.01.021

Berry, C., Burton, S., & Howlett, E. (2017). The Impact of

E-Cigarette Addiction Warnings and Health-Related

Claims on Consumers’ Risk Beliefs and Use

Intentions. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing,

36(1), 54–69. https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.15.024

Bollard, T., Maubach, N., Walker, N., & Ni Mhurchu, C.

(2016). Effects of plain packaging, warning labels, and

taxes on young people’s predicted sugar-sweetened

beverage preferences: An experimental study.

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and

Physical Activity, 13(1).

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-016-0421-7

Borland, R., Wilson, N., Fong, G. T., Hammond, D.,

Cummings, K. M., Yong, H. H., … Mcneill, A.

(2009). Impact of graphic and text warnings on

cigarette packs: Findings from four countries over five

years. Tobacco Control, 18(5), 358–364.

https://doi.org/10.1136/tc.2008.028043

Bushman, B. J. (1998). Effects of warning and information

labels on consumption of full-fat, reduced-fat, and no-

fat products. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(1),

97–101. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.83.1.97

Cox, A. D., Cox, D., & Zimet, G. (2006). Understanding

Consumer Responses to Product Risk Information.

Journal of Marketing, 70(1), 79–91.

https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.2006.70.1.79

Cox, E. P. I., Wogalter, M. S., Stokes, S. L., & Murff, E. J.

T. (1997). Do Product Warnings Increase Safe

Behavior? A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Public Policy

& Marketing, 16(2), 195–204.

https://doi.org/10.2307/30000444

Effertz, T., Franke, M. K., & Teichert, T. (2014).

Adolescents’ Assessments of Advertisements for

Unhealthy Food: An Example of Warning Labels for

ICEBM Untar 2018 - International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Business Management (ICEBM) Untar

340

Soft Drinks. Journal of Consumer Policy, 37(2), 279–

299. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-013-9248-7

Gallopel-Morvan, K., Moodie, C., Hammond, D., Eker, F.,

Beguinot, E., & Martinet, Y. (2012). Consumer

perceptions of cigarette pack design in France: A

comparison of regular, limited edition and plain

packaging. Tobacco Control, 21(5), 502–506.

https://doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050079

Goodall, C., & Appiah, O. (2008). Adolescents’

perceptions of Canadian cigarette package warning

labels: Investigating the effects of message framing.

Health Communication, 23(2), 117–127.

https://doi.org/10.1080/10410230801967825

Halim, R. E., & Muttaqin, F. (2014). The Effect of

Warning Labels on Cigarette Packages: Textual vs.

Textual-Visual and Self- Efficacy. Journal of Asian

Finance, Economics and Business, 1(2).

Halim, R. E., Sumiyarto, & Muttaqin, F. (2014). Warning

Labels on Cigarette Packages: A Special Stimulus for

Moslem Smokers to Quit Smoking. East Asian

Journal of Business Management, 5(1), 5–11.

https://doi.org/10.13106/eajbm.2014.vol5.no1.5

Hennigs, N., Schmidt, S., Langner, S., Karampournioti, E.,

& Albertsen, L. (2017). Where There’s Smoke,

There’s Fire: Analyzing the Explicit and Implicit

Effects of Text-Based and Graphic Warning Labels on

Cigarette Packages. In Creating Marketing Magic and

Innovative Future Marketing Trends. Developments in

Marketing Science. Springer, Cham.

Kees, J., Burton, S., Andrews, J. C., & Kozup, J. (2006).

Tests of Graphic Visuals and Cigarette Package

Warning Combinations: Implications for the

Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Journal

of Public Policy & Marketing, 25(2), 212–223.

https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.25.2.212

Kees, J., Burton, S., Andrews, J. C., & Kozup, J. (2010).

Understanding How Graphic Pictorial Warnings Work

on Cigarette Packaging. Journal of Public Policy &

Marketing, 29(2), 265–276.

https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.29.2.265

Kersbergen, I., & Field, M. (2017). Alcohol consumers’

attention to warning labels and brand information on

alcohol packaging: Findings from cross-sectional and

experimental studies. BMC Public Health, 17(1).

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4055-8

L.M., H., & E, S. (2017). Alcohol Warning Labels: A

Review and Research Agenda. In Marketing at the

Confluence between Entertainment and Analytics.

Developments in Marketing Science. Springer, Cham.

Levy, D. T., Mays, D., Yuan, Z., Hammond, D., &

Thrasher, J. F. (2017). Public health benefits from

pictorial health warnings on US cigarette packs: A

SimSmoke simulation. Tobacco Control,

26(6), 649–

655. https://doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-

053087

Lin, L., & McFerran, B. (2016). The (Ironic) Dove Effect:

Use of Acceptance Cues for Larger Body Types

Increases Unhealthy Behaviors. Journal of Public

Policy & Marketing, 35(1), 76–90.

https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.14.020

McCloud, R. F., Okechukwu, C., Sorensen, G., &

Viswanath, K. (2017). Cigarette graphic health

warning labels and information avoidance among

individuals from low socioeconomic position in the

U.S. Cancer Causes and Control, 28(4), 351–360.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-017-0875-1

Mead, E. L., Cohen, J. E., Kennedy, C. E., Gallo, J., &

Latkin, C. A. (2015). The role of theory-driven graphic

warning labels in motivation to quit: a qualitative

study on perceptions from low-income, urban

smokers. BMC Public Health, 15, 92.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1438-6

Mead, E. L., Cohen, J. E., Kennedy, C. E., Gallo, J., &

Latkin, C. A. (2016). The influence of graphic warning

labels on efficacy beliefs and risk perceptions: A

qualitative study with low-income, urban smokers.

Tobacco Induced Diseases, 14(1).

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12971-016-0088-5

Murdock, M. R., & Rajagopal, P. (2017). The Sting of

Social: How Emphasizing Social Consequences in

Warning Messages Influences Perceptions of Risk.

Journal of Marketing, 81(2), 83–98.

https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.15.0402

Mutti, S., Reid, J. L., Gupta, P. C., Pednekar, M. S.,

Dhumal, G., Nargis, N., … Hammond, D. (2016).

Perceived effectiveness of text and pictorial health

warnings for smokeless tobacco packages in Navi

Mumbai, India, and Dhaka, Bangladesh: Findings

from an experimental study. Tobacco Control, 25(4),

437–443. https://doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-

2015-052315

Pechmann, C., & Catlin, J. R. (2016). The effects of

advertising and other marketing communications on

health-related consumer behaviors. Current Opinion in

Psychology.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.12.008

Pechmann, C., Levine, L., Loughlin, S., & Leslie, F.

(2005). Impulsive and Self-Conscious: Adolescents’

Vulnerability to Advertising and Promotion. Journal

of Public Policy & Marketing, 24(2), 202–221.

https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.2005.24.2.202

Rogers, W. A., Lamson, N., & Rousseau, G. K. (2000).

Warning Research: An Integrative Perspective. Human

Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and

Ergonomics Society, 42(1), 102–139.

https://doi.org/10.1518/001872000779656624

Romer, D., Ferguson, S. G., Strasser, A. A., Evans, A. T.,

Tompkins, M. K., Macisco, J., … Peters, E. (2017).

Effects of Pictorial Warning Labels for Cigarettes and

Quit-Efficacy on Emotional Responses, Smoking

Satisfaction, and Cigarette Consumption. Annals of

Behavioral Medicine, pp. 1–12.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-017-9916-y

Shiyanbola, O. O., Smith, P. D., Huang, Y. M., &

Mansukhani, S. G. (2017). Pharmacists and patients

feedback on empirically designed prescription warning

labels: a qualitative study. International Journal of

Clinical Pharmacy, 39(1), 187–195.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-016-0421-3

An Assessment towards Advertisement with Warning Label: Attached on the Product Packaging: Kids vs Tweens

341

Tannenbaum, M. B., Hepler, J., Zimmerman, R. S., Saul,

L., Jacobs, S., Wilson, K., & Albarracín, D. (2015).

Appealing to Fear: A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeal

Effectiveness and Theories. Psychological Bulletin,

141(6), 1178–1204. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039729

VanEpps, E. M., Downs, J. S., & Loewenstein, G. (2016).

Calorie Label Formats: Using Numeric and Traffic

Light Calorie Labels to Reduce Lunch Calories.

Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 35(1), 26–36.

https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.14.112.

ICEBM Untar 2018 - International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Business Management (ICEBM) Untar

342