Do first impressions matter? How product packaging and warning messages influence young adults' conceptions and intentions to use nicotine pouches

Abstract: Tobacco-free nicotine pouches have become increasingly popular in Sweden, especially among young adults. This thesis examines how packaging and warning messages could influence young adults' conceptions and intentions to use nicotine pouches. Furthermore, the thesis intends to empirically examine if message framing and changes in product packaging can serve as a potential solution to decrease the attractiveness of nicotine pouches (NP) used in Sweden. A quantitative study was conducted by distributing a questionnaire physically at university campuses and digitally on various social media platforms. We conducted a randomized control trial on 282 participants in which they evaluated one of five different versions of the NP package. We tested two types of packaging (non-plain vs. plain) and two types of message framing (gain vs. loss). The empirical results indicated that plain packaging negatively influenced the participants' conceptions of and intentions to use the product. However, no significant results were found for the message framing. There was no statistical significance concerning the interaction effects of packaging and message framing, nor was there statistical significance between the current, unmanipulated product design and the altered NP product design.