ABSTRACT
Previous research on the effectiveness of warning labels has centered on reformatting the shape, size, and content of the label; and the examination of social factors that might affect the consumers’ perceptions of the product, such as modeling warning reading behavior and giving advance publicity of the product’s dangers. The current research investigated the effects of an advertisement’s warning location on consumers’ evaluation of the product. Moving a warning from the periphery to a more central location may increase the salience of the warning, the perceived inconsistency of the advertisement, and/or the perceived two-sidedness of the advertisement. The first two experiments explored whether moving a warning from the periphery of an advertisement to a more central location would influence subjects’ attitudes toward the product and their cognitive response. The advertisements were picked to represent a wide range of products that consumers usually see advertised in popular magazines.
