Warning labels were designed to inform consumers of the potential risks of using a product, but they have become too common and unprofitable.
W. Kip Viscusi, a distinguished professor of law, economics, and management at Vanderbilt University, said: “Warning labels were actually quite rare until the 1960s. “Starting in the mid-1960s, cigarettes began to have warning labels. Since that time, other products have followed suit, attempting to emulate the smoking experience.”
Warning labels usually come in two forms: labels that warn consumers not to buy a product, such as a cigarette box label that says: “This product may cause oral cancer,” and warnings about the risks associated with improper use of the product and may say, “In order for this furniture not to tip over, it must be fixed to the wall.”
One of the problems researchers have pointed out is that people are not sensitive to warning labels because they seem to be everywhere.
“One of my main complaints about the warnings is that they have become ubiquitous,” says Viscusi. “There is a tendency to say that everything is risky [and] slap a warning on it and that tends to reduce the impact of other warnings out there. So if everything in the supermarket is labeled as dangerous, you won’t know what to buy.”
Viscusi developed two criteria for warning labels to be effective: 1) they must provide new information to consumers, and 2) consumers must find the information trustworthy.
“When companies make claims against their financial interests, it tends to be credible,” says Viscusi.
There have been objections to the placement of warning labels on some products. In December 2022, a federal judge ruled that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could not require tobacco companies to put graphic warning labels on cigarettes.
When it comes to making sure people are using products safely, consumer protection advocates say warning labels should be the last resort.
“In general, the warning labels themselves [are] “They really need to be combined with safety design,” said Oriene Shin, policy advisor at Consumer Reports.
That’s where the secure hierarchy of product design comes in. This is a multi-step process that aims to eliminate risk to consumers, and when this is not possible, reduce risk through safeguards.
An example of a protective measure would require a potentially hazardous product, such as a lawn mower, to start only if the user pulls the lever and presses a button, rather than requiring just one of those procedures, Shin said.
The last layer of the security hierarchy is the warning label.
“I’ve probably seen hundreds of warning labels in the last week and we probably don’t remember any of them,” Shin said. “And that’s the problem with just relying on warning labels. [They’re] the icing on the cake, not the end of it all.”
Watch video above to learn more about why warning labels aren’t working and what we can do about it.
