NCT06442800

Impacts of Alcohol Warning Labels: An Online Experiment

Online Randomized Experiment Evaluating the Perceived Effectiveness of Alcohol Warning Labels

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 1,123 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 21 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The goal of this experiment is to examine responses to alcohol warning messages about 10 different topics among US adult alcohol consumers. The main questions this experiment aims to answer are: Which warning topics make alcohol consumers in the US want to drink less alcohol? Which warning topics remind alcohol consumers in the US of alcohol's harms? Which warning topics help alcohol consumers in the US learn something new? There will be a total of 20 alcohol messages, 2 messages for each of the 10 topics. For each topic, participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of the 2 messages so that they view a total of 10 alcohol messages. All 10 messages will be shown in random order. Participants will rate each message on how much it makes them want to drink less alcohol, reminds them that drinking can be harmful, and teaches them something new.

Detailed description

This study aims to determine which topics in alcohol warning labels are most effective at making US adults who consume alcohol want to drink less alcohol, which topics best remind consumers of alcohol's harms, and which topics are most likely to teach consumers something new. The survey research company NORC at the University of Chicago will recruit a sample of 1,000 US adults ages 21+ who consumed alcohol at least one time per week during the past 4 weeks. Participants will complete a within-subjects online randomized experiment in which they view and rate messages shown on alcohol containers. Participants will rate each message on perceived message effectiveness (primary outcome), reminding of alcohol's harms (secondary outcome), and learning something new (secondary outcome). These tasks will be repeated for 10 messages, each with a different topic. There will be 9 warning topics (i.e., topics about alcohol's harms) and 1 control topic (i.e., neutral topic not about alcohol's harms). In this within-subjects experiment, the survey will present the topics in random order and participants will view 1 of 2 messages for each topic.

Conditions

• Alcohol Drinking

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Liver Cancer	Participants will view messages about the risk of liver cancer from alcohol consumption.
BEHAVIORAL	Throat and Mouth Cancer	Participants will view messages about the risk of throat and mouth cancer from alcohol consumption.
BEHAVIORAL	Colorectal Cancer	Participants will view messages about the risk of colorectal cancer from alcohol consumption.
BEHAVIORAL	Multiple Cancers	Participants will view messages about the risk of multiple cancers from alcohol consumption.
BEHAVIORAL	Liver Disease	Participants will view messages about the risk of liver disease from alcohol consumption.
BEHAVIORAL	Hypertension	Participants will view messages about the risk of hypertension from alcohol consumption.
BEHAVIORAL	Dementia	Participants will view messages about the risk of dementia from alcohol consumption.
BEHAVIORAL	Drinking Guidelines	Participants will view messages about guidelines for alcohol consumption.
BEHAVIORAL	Current Warning	Participants will view the current warning that is required on most alcoholic beverage containers sold in the US.
BEHAVIORAL	Control	Participants will view neutral messages unrelated to the harms of alcohol consumption.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-09-25
• Primary completion: 2024-10-14
• Completion: 2024-10-14
• First posted: 2024-06-04
• Last updated: 2025-08-15
• Results posted: 2025-08-15

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States