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.
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
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
1,260
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.
Participants in the control condition will see the same four product packages, but without any added imagery.
Wake Forest University Health Sciences
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
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
Time frame: 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
Time frame: 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
Time frame: 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
Time frame: 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
Time frame: After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min
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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
Time frame: After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min
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
Time frame: 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
Time frame: After exposure to product packaging - up to 1 min