Do point-of-purchase graphic warning posters encourage smoking cessation? A study among undergraduate students in Bangkok

Abstract

This study aimed to develop the point-of-purchase graphic warning posters (POPGWPs) to be placed on enclosed cigarette cabinets (ECCs) in grocery stores (GSs)—to evaluate their feasibility for encouraging quitting intentions and to examine GS owners’ compliance with displaying POPGWPs. The study was divided into three parts. In Part 1, graphic warning posters (GWPs) developed by 20 smoking undergraduate students were analyzed. Part 2 shows the primary outcome of the examination of the perceptions of 151 undergraduates who currently smoked, never smoked, or were ex-smokers on seven POPGWPs and of the evaluation of their intention to quit. The secondary outcome in Part 3 was determined by posting POPGWPs at ECCs in 11 stores and eliciting the views of GS owners through in-depth interviews. The results showed that POPGWPs significantly affected smoking-cessation intentions among never-smokers and current smokers. Specifically, loss-framed messages with guilt appeals were depicted in POPGWPs. GS owners’ compliance was 100% following the implementation of POPGWPs placed at ECCs. The study recommends that campaigns targeting teenagers should be enforced nationwide in GSs in Thailand.