Understanding the early exposure and potential impact of alcohol health warning labels in Ireland: results from a cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND: In 2025, the new Irish alcohol warning labels started appearing on the product containers in supermarkets, despite the announced delay in legislation. This study aimed to assess the early exposure and perceptions of the new labels, as well as the associations between the exposure and cancer knowledge/readiness for behaviour change. METHODS: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in December 2025 on a non-probability quota sample of the Irish population recruited by a market research agency (N=714). Participants answered questions on exposure, perceived impact and perceptions of the new health warnings, as well as on cancer knowledge and readiness to change alcohol consumption. Descriptives were calculated; chi square was used for unadjusted analyses and logistic regression for adjusted analyses. RESULTS: Overall, 32.5% of the respondents reported noticing the new label on alcohol products. Two thirds of participants noticing the health warnings (66%) reported the warning informed them about risks associated with alcohol consumption, 40% reported that it made them think about alcohol's impact on health, and 25% reported deciding to buy less or no alcohol in that shopping trip. While unadjusted analyses showed significant difference in cancer knowledge (77.4% vs 68.2%, p = 0.011) and readiness to change behaviour (49.8% vs 39.7%, p = 0.015) based on exposure to new warning label, this difference was not significant when adjusting for other factors, such as drinking patterns and exposure to alcohol and cancer message in the media. Exposure to alcohol-cancer messages in the media was the strongest predictor of cancer knowledge (OR = 17.05, 95% CI [7.77, 37.40]). CONCLUSIONS: Our survey data indicates that Irish consumers are starting to notice the new alcohol labelling despite the delayed legislation implementation, with overall positive responses. There are indications of their early impact, although the media messaging on alcohol and cancer appears to play a stronger role in association with knowledge increase at this point.