As per a new study published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, cigarette packets depicting gruesome images related to harmful consequences of smoking do leave an impact on smokers making them think of giving up the habit.

The study came after the U. S. Food and Drug Administration’s proposal to include graphic images on the cigarette packs, so as to combat smoking. It suggests that cigarette packs showing harsh pictures of swollen, blackened and dreadful cancerous growth on the lip made people to think seriously over quitting the addiction.

There were involved 500 smokers from the United States and Canada in the study. They were shown cigarette packets depicting either no image; picture of a mouth with white, straight teeth; image of somewhat destroyed smoker's mouth and stained mouth due to mouth cancer.

The researchers looked at the inclination of participants towards giving up smoking in seeing the pictures. It was found that the participants were affected by the most gruesome image. The harsher the image was, the more smokers wanted to get rid of the smoking.

Jeremy Kees, an Assistant Professor of marketing at Villanova University said, "The more graphic, the more gruesome the image, the more fear-evoking those pictures were. As you increase the level of fear, intentions to quit for smokers increase".