Forbidden or Promising Fruit? An experimental study into the effects of warning labels on the purchase intention of digital gamers

Abstract

Using a forced choice paradigm, in a 2 (age: -18, +18) x 4 (label: no label, 18+, violence label, extreme label) x 2 (cover type: soft, hard) mixed factorial design, this study was able to experimentally show the effects of warning labels on the preference of game covers. Warning labels made these game covers more desirable. This effect was only found for subjects of minor age (12 to 17 years old) and for adult subjects (aged 18 and more). No difference was found in effects of evaluative or descriptive ratings: both age label and content label had the same attracting effect on game covers. Given these results a revision of the process behind the forbidden fruit effect and the role of reactance in it, seems in order.