We carried out the first systematic review of the literature on public attitudes to government interventions to reduce tobacco and alcohol use, increase physical activity and/or improve diet. The review included 200 studies.
We found that people regarded interventions that were least intrusive (but often also the least effective) such as giving information as the most acceptable and price interventions (which can be very effective) as the least acceptable.
We are now studying how to increase public acceptability of the most effective interventions.
Public acceptability of government intervention to change health-related behaviours: a systematic review and narrative synthesis. Diepeveen, Ling, Suhrcke, Roland & Marteau, 2013.