Effectiveness of Product Warning Labels: Effects of Consumers’ Information Processing Objectives

Based on Wyer and Srull's (1986) model of social information processing, it was hypothesized that compared with consumers who use an impression‐set information‐processing objective when examining products, consumers using a memory‐set processing objective would 1) devote more time to examining products’ labels, 2) recall more product information from the label, 3) perceive the products as safer, and 4) be more likely to comply with safety recommendations. Subjects were instructed only once either to memorize as much information as they could or to form an impression from a jar of oven cleaner. After filling out a questionnaire, they examined a jar of prescription cough medicine. Results confirmed the hypotheses for both products. Even though the processing objective instructions were not repeated before the subjects examined the cough medicine, the effects of the objective carried over to the cough medicine.