How one researcher is improving global health… one label at a time

25 years ago, Player’s was Canada’s most popular cigarette brand. Its packs featured an iconic image of a handsome, bearded sailor in a “Navy Cut” cap, encircled by a flotation ring bearing the words “Players’ Navy Cut”. Today, that sailor has been replaced by the haunting image of an emaciated woman with a shaved head, staring blankly off to the side. Next to her, a stark warning reads: “Barb Tarbox was only 42 when she died from lung cancer caused by cigarettes.”

Dr. Geoffrey Fong, a Canadian social psychologist, played a key role in shaping policies aimed at countering the appealing designs of those early cigarette packages, both in Canada and around the world.  “As a social psychologist, you’re trained to understand the factors that can change attitudes and, ultimately, behaviour. One of the most powerful change agents has been the use of fear appeals.”

In 2002, with funding from CIHR, Dr. Fong founded the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project) to study the impact of tobacco control policies such as smoke-free laws, tobacco taxes, and restrictions on tobacco advertising. In the past 20 years, the ITC Project has conducted upwards of 200 surveys across 31 countries, reaching more than half of the world’s population. ITC findings have helped to advance policies in Canada and many other countries to reduce tobacco smoking, by far the leading preventable cause of death in Canada and globally.

For example, ITC surveys found that countries with graphic warning labels reported a 20% higher quit rate than those with text-only warnings. In Canada, smoking rates decreased by 10 to 15% since the introduction of graphic warnings in 2000. These ITC evaluation studies have played a key role in building the evidence base supporting graphic warnings. Today, 138 countries require graphic warnings.

Over the past decade, the ITC Project has expanded to conduct research on new nicotine products like e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches. “We are studying whether e-cigarettes help those who smoke to quit, Dr. Fong said, “but we have also started a multi-country youth survey to study vaping among youth who are at risk of becoming addicted to vaping.”

That is why Dr. Fong has broadened his research to study the effectiveness of warning labels on e-cigarettes and other new nicotine products. His findings will be important, as Health Canada continues to monitor the public health impact of vaping products, which are currently sold in brightly coloured packages with playful fonts.