Cannabis Edibles Packaging Imagery Experiment

The Impact of Cannabis Edibles Packaging Descriptors on Consumer Appeal, Harm Perceptions and Willingness to Try: Packaging Imagery Experiment

The purpose of this study is to assess differences in perceptions of product appeal, harm, and subsequent willingness to try cannabis edibles products with/without packaging imagery.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cannabis Use
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Packaging imagery; Behavioral: No Imagery (Control)

Detailed Description

Cannabis edibles are rapidly leading the legal recreational cannabis market. Cannabis edibles present health harms that are not typical of smoked marijuana, including accidental overconsumption of high levels of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) . Product packaging plays an important role in influencing perceptions of a product's appeal and potential harm. This experiment will assign participants to view real cannabis edibles packaging edited with one of four images commonly found on real cannabis edibles products, and ask a series of questions to assess perceptions of product appeal and harm. One group of participants will serve as the control and will see the same cannabis edibles packaging without any imagery.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 1260
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Carolina
    • Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States, 27157
      • Wake Forest University Health Sciences

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• US resident
• Aged 18-65, inclusive
• Up to 13% of participants will be those who identify as Black/African American
• Up to 16% of participants will be those who identify as Hispanic
• Approximately 50% of participants will be past year cannabis users
• Was not a participant on the anteceding experiment, Cannabis Edibles Packaging Descriptors Experiment

Exclusion Criteria:

• Does not currently reside in the United States
• Younger than 18 or older than 65
• Does not provide information regarding history of cannabis use
• Otherwise eligible but demographic and/or user group quotas have been met
• Was a participant on the anteceding experiment, Cannabis Edibles Packaging Descriptors Experiment

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

5

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Flavor Imagery; Four edible product packages (gummies, chocolate, mints, cookies) with package imagery in a flavor theme.	Behavioral: Packaging imagery; Participants in the four intervention conditions will be shown four cannabis edibles packages that have been altered to contain one of the imagery themes. All participants will see the same four products, and each condition will see the products with the same imagery theme.; Other Names: four cannabis edibles packages
Experimental: Animal Imagery; Four edible product packages (gummies, chocolate, mints, cookies) with package imagery in an animal theme.	Behavioral: Packaging imagery; Participants in the four intervention conditions will be shown four cannabis edibles packages that have been altered to contain one of the imagery themes. All participants will see the same four products, and each condition will see the products with the same imagery theme.; Other Names: four cannabis edibles packages
Experimental: Nature Imagery; Four edible product packages (gummies, chocolate, mints, cookies) with package imagery in a nature theme.	Behavioral: Packaging imagery; Participants in the four intervention conditions will be shown four cannabis edibles packages that have been altered to contain one of the imagery themes. All participants will see the same four products, and each condition will see the products with the same imagery theme.; Other Names: four cannabis edibles packages
Experimental: Medical Imagery; Four edible product packages (gummies, chocolate, mints, cookies) with package imagery in a medical theme.	Behavioral: Packaging imagery; Participants in the four intervention conditions will be shown four cannabis edibles packages that have been altered to contain one of the imagery themes. All participants will see the same four products, and each condition will see the products with the same imagery theme.; Other Names: four cannabis edibles packages
Experimental: No Imagery (Control); Four edible product packages (gummies, chocolate, mints, cookies) without any added packaging imagery.	Behavioral: No Imagery (Control); Participants in the control condition will see the same four product packages, but without any added imagery.; Other Names: No Imagery

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Product Appeal Scoring	One item to assess the appeal of the product. Results will be reported as mean for all products within condition. Question: How appealing is this product to you? Response options: (0) Not at all appealing to (10) Very appealing	After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min
Package Appeal Scoring	One item to assess appeal of the packaging of the product. Results will be reported as mean for all products within condition. Question: How appealing is this packaging to you? Response options: (0) Not at all appealing to (10) Very appealing	After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min
Product Harm Perceptions (Absolute) Scoring	After exposure to product packaging; 1 min One item to assess participants' opinions of safety of the product. Results will be reported as the number of each type of response. Question: How safe do you think it would be to eat the edible in this package? Response options: (1) Completely unsafe, (2) Somewhat unsafe, (3) Somewhat safe, (4) Completely safe	After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min
Package Harm Perceptions (Absolute) Scoring	One item to assess participants' opinions of product safety based on the packaging. Results will be reported as the number of each type of response. Question: How much does this packaging make you think this edible is safe to consume? Response options: (1) Not at all; (2) A little; (3) Somewhat; (4) A lot	After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min
Willingness to Try Free Sample Scoring	One question will assess the participant's willingness to try the product shown. Results will be reported as the number of each type of response. Question: How interested would you be in a free sample of this product? Response options: (1) Not at all; (2) Slightly; (3) Somewhat; (4) Moderately; (5) Very	After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min
Willingness to Try Product Scoring	One item to assess the participants' willingness to try the product based on the packaging. Results will be reported as the number of each type of response. Question: How much does seeing this packaging make you want to try this edible? Response options: (1) Not at all; (2) A little; (3) Somewhat; (4) A lot	After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Appeal to Children Scoring	One item to assess the participants' assessment of the product packaging's potential appeal to children. Results will be reported as mean for all products within condition. Question: How appealing do you think this packaging would be to children? Response options: (0) Not at all appealing to (10) Very appealing	After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min
Harm Perceptions (Relative) Scoring	One question assessing participants' opinions of safety of the product compared to other, similar, products. Results will be reported as the number of each type of response. Question: Compared to other edible products on the market, how safe do you think the edible in this package is? Response options: (1) Much less safe; (2) Somewhat less safe; (3) As safe; (4) Somewhat safer; (5) Much safer	After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perception of Quality Scoring	One item to assess the participants' perceptions of the quality of the product. Results will be reported as the number of each type of response. Question: To what extent do you agree or disagree that this looks like a good quality product? Response options: (1) Strongly disagree to (5) Strongly agree	After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min
Perception of Good Taste Scoring	One item to assess the participants' perceptions of the taste of the product. Results will be reported as the number of each type of response. Question: To what extent do you agree or disagree that this edible might taste good? Response options: (1) Strongly disagree to (5) Strongly agree	After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min
Perception of Healthfulness of Product Scoring	One item to asses the participants' perceptions of the healthfulness of the product based on the packaging. Results will be reported as the number of each type of response. Question: How much does this packaging make you think this edible is healthy? Response options: (1) Not at all; (2) A little; (3) Somewhat; (4) A lot	After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Wake Forest University Health Sciences
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Beth Reboussin, PhD, Wake Forest University Health Sciences

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 23, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 19, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): June 19, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 5, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 5, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): April 10, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 8, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 5, 2025
• Last Verified: March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC); cannabis edibles; Product packaging
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Marijuana Abuse
• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB00111438; R01DA053209 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No