Effects of the Arizona Alcohol Warning Poster

An Arizona law, effective January 1, 1992, requires establishments that sell alcohol to display a poster that warns of the risk of drinking alcohol while pregnant. In Study 1, the authors measure the effects of this warning poster on college students before (N = 362), 3 months after (N = 332), 9 months after (N = 369), 12 months after (N = 337), and 18 months after (N = 336) the legislation became effective. After the introduction of the law, students reported more exposure to the poster and greater recognition for the content of the poster, along with some suggestive evidence for stronger beliefs about the risks of drinking while pregnant and less tolerance for alcohol consumption during pregnancy. All the positive effects were small, and there were no significant effects found on intentions to avoid drinking alcohol while pregnant. In Study 2, the positive associations of the poster on exposure and beliefs about the risk of drinking alcohol while pregnant were replicated in a representative sample of Arizona high school students measured before (N = 5396), 18 months after (N = 2058), and 42 months after (N = 2,318) the introduction of the warning poster. In both the high school and college samples, there was evidence that the initial positive effects of the warning poster leveled off over time.