Impacts of Alcohol Warning Labels: An Online Experiment

July 29, 2025 updated by: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Online Randomized Experiment Evaluating the Perceived Effectiveness of Alcohol Warning Labels

The goal of this experiment is to examine responses to alcohol warning messages about 10 different topics among US adult alcohol consumers. The main questions this experiment aims to answer are:

Which warning topics make alcohol consumers in the US want to drink less alcohol? Which warning topics remind alcohol consumers in the US of alcohol's harms? Which warning topics help alcohol consumers in the US learn something new? There will be a total of 20 alcohol messages, 2 messages for each of the 10 topics. For each topic, participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of the 2 messages so that they view a total of 10 alcohol messages. All 10 messages will be shown in random order. Participants will rate each message on how much it makes them want to drink less alcohol, reminds them that drinking can be harmful, and teaches them something new.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This study aims to determine which topics in alcohol warning labels are most effective at making US adults who consume alcohol want to drink less alcohol, which topics best remind consumers of alcohol's harms, and which topics are most likely to teach consumers something new. The survey research company NORC at the University of Chicago will recruit a sample of 1,000 US adults ages 21+ who consumed alcohol at least one time per week during the past 4 weeks.

Participants will complete a within-subjects online randomized experiment in which they view and rate messages shown on alcohol containers. Participants will rate each message on perceived message effectiveness (primary outcome), reminding of alcohol's harms (secondary outcome), and learning something new (secondary outcome). These tasks will be repeated for 10 messages, each with a different topic. There will be 9 warning topics (i.e., topics about alcohol's harms) and 1 control topic (i.e., neutral topic not about alcohol's harms). In this within-subjects experiment, the survey will present the topics in random order and participants will view 1 of 2 messages for each topic.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

1123

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • North Carolina
      • Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, 27599
        • University of North Carolina

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 21 and older
  • Reside in the United States
  • Able to complete a survey in English
  • Consumed alcohol at least once per week during the past 4 weeks

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Under the age of 21
  • Reside outside of the United States
  • Unable to complete a survey in English
  • Consumed alcohol less than once per week during the past 4 weeks

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Alcohol Messages
Participants will view and rate 10 messages shown on alcohol containers.
Behavioral: Hypertension
Participants will view messages about the risk of hypertension from alcohol consumption.
Behavioral: Dementia
Participants will view messages about the risk of dementia from alcohol consumption.
Behavioral: Control
Participants will view neutral messages unrelated to the harms of alcohol consumption.
Behavioral: Liver Cancer
Participants will view messages about the risk of liver cancer from alcohol consumption.
Behavioral: Throat and Mouth Cancer
Participants will view messages about the risk of throat and mouth cancer from alcohol consumption.
Behavioral: Colorectal Cancer
Participants will view messages about the risk of colorectal cancer from alcohol consumption.
Behavioral: Multiple Cancers
Participants will view messages about the risk of multiple cancers from alcohol consumption.
Behavioral: Liver Disease
Participants will view messages about the risk of liver disease from alcohol consumption.
Behavioral: Drinking Guidelines
Participants will view messages about guidelines for alcohol consumption.
Behavioral: Current Warning
Participants will view the current warning that is required on most alcoholic beverage containers sold in the US.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Perceived Message Effectiveness
Time Frame: Assessed during one-time 15-minute online study survey
The study will assess perceived message effectiveness using 1 item: "How much does this message make you want to drink less alcohol?" Response options will range from "not at all" (coded as 1) to "a great deal" (coded as 5). Higher scores indicate more perceived message effectiveness. Survey weighted means are reported to account for NORC AmeriSpeak's sampling design to enable results to be statistically representative of the US population of drinkers age >/=21 who drink alcohol.
Assessed during one-time 15-minute online study survey

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Reminding of Alcohol's Harms
Time Frame: Assessed during one-time 15-minute online study survey
The study will assess reminding of alcohol's harms using 1 item: "How much does this message remind you that drinking alcohol can be harmful?" Response options will range from not at all (1) to a great deal (5). Higher scores indicate greater reminding of alcohol's harms. Survey weighted means are reported to account for NORC AmeriSpeak's sampling design to enable results to be statistically representative of the US population of drinkers age >/=21 who drink alcohol.
Assessed during one-time 15-minute online study survey
Learning Something New
Time Frame: Assessed during one-time 15-minute online study survey
The study will assess learning something new with 1 item: "Did you learn something new from this message?" Response options will be yes (1) and no (0). Proportion of participants who endorsed learning something new (i.e., answered 1). Survey weighted proportions are reported to account for NORC AmeriSpeak's sampling design to enable results to be statistically representative of the US population of drinkers age >/=21 who drink alcohol.
Assessed during one-time 15-minute online study survey

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Collaborators

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Marissa Hall, PhD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
  • Principal Investigator: Anna Grummon, PhD, Stanford University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 25, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 14, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

October 14, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 30, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 30, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

June 4, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

August 15, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 29, 2025

Last Verified

May 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 23-1218a
  • 1R01AA030548-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Investigators will post de-identified individual participant data in a public repository.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Investigators will post individual participant data upon acceptance of any manuscripts associated with the data generated in this study.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Data and code will be made publicly available.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • SAP
  • ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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