PRODUCT WARNINGS AND INFORMATION-PROCESSING - THE CASE OF ALCOHOL BEVERAGE LABELS

Alcohol manufacturers are required by U.S. federal law to warn on beve rage containers of three hazards : drinking during pregnancy, drinking and driving, and the health effects of drinking. We use a newly-devel oped evaluation protocol which assesses judgments of individual << inv olvement >> with the message, personal relevance of the message and ab ility to process the message, in order to evaluate the existing warnin g in comparison to alternatives. Implications of research using this p rotocol are discussed concerning : Personal relevance and the targetin g of high risk groups, the amount of information in warnings, and stan dardized warning systems. The examination of the case of alcohol bever age warnings concludes by calling for greater use of empirical evaluat ions of warnings and consideration of warnings as just one part of the social construction process operating to define the risks of alcohol. Such a consideration will require researchers and warning designers t o adopt new definitions of warning effectiveness.