Alcohol

Will large warning signs stop you from drinking?. Image by Flickr

Will large warning labels lessen alcohol consumption? This study says yes

How likely will a large picture of someone bent over in pain on a bottle of alcohol stop you from having a drink?

Alcohol

Will large warning signs stop you from drinking?. Image by Flickr

A UK study has found that binge drinkers are more likely to quit alcohol if large tobacco-style warnings are placed on the alcohol bottle. The study which was done by scientists from the University of Stirling found that binge drinkers who saw the warnings thought twice before deciding to buy a bottle of alcohol out of health concerns.

Tabacco-style drinking warnings will curb alcoholism, study finds

A recent study has suggested that tobacco-styled warning labels on alcohol bottles are likely to make drinking less appealing to younger people.

Scientists at a UK university tested the impact of small text warnings, large text warnings, and a text warning accompanied by a related picture on attitudes to drinking by showing them to 1,360 young drinkers.

Later they did a survey to test the youngsters’ attitudes to alcohol after seeing the warning signs.

Those exposed to the large text warnings or the picture warnings were about five times as likely to perceive the drink as unappealing and socially unacceptable than the control group, researchers claimed according to Daily Mail.

The study also found that the drinkers were more impacted by large text warnings that were accompanied by a picture that showed a man bent over in pain holding his liver.

“Large pictorial or text warnings, in particular, may help to counteract the appeal and social acceptability of alcohol products while increasing awareness of risks.”

“The findings of the research indicate warnings could, potentially, lead to a reduction in consumption and related harms,” said the study’s author Daniel Jones.

Alcohol warnings: What do netizens think?

JustAnotherVoice said:

“Honestly I don’t think it would work. It would just be more added costs, wasted resources and bureaucracy.”

Baldy.001 said:

“If taxing the stuff through the roof hasn’t stopped people buying it – nothing will.”

ALSO READ: ‘Dear Alcohol’: Dax confronts his own demons in new visuals [watch]