Designated Driving Comes to Prime-Time

The next time Wheel of Fortune star Pat Sajak appears on prime-time television, it might be Harvard's fault.

Thanks to the efforts of the Harvard Alcohol Project, networks and Hollywood studios have begun a massive media campaign--using stars like Sajak--to "change American social norms relating to drinking and driving," says Director of the Project Jay A. Winsten.

The statistics are frightening. According to the Department of Transportation, two of every five Americans will be in an alcohol-related car accident. Almost 24,000 people die each year in alcohol-related car crashes. More than 500,000 people are injured in such accidents each year. Drunk driving accidents are the leading cause of death among 15 to 19 year olds.

The Project, an enterprise of the Center for Health Communication at Harvard's School of Public Health (SPH), is drawing on the power of the American mass media to "add momentum to changes that are already beginning to occur in reducing drunk driving and increasing use of the designated driver," says Winsten.

The Project's efforts have resulted in the three big TV networks broadcasting anti-drunk driving announcements up to 20 times per week this holiday season. The Project's public service ads will occupy air time that Winsten estimates is worth $100,000,000. In addition, Winsten persuaded 13 Hollywood television studios to include lines of dialogue encouraging use of the designated driver in the scripts of many prime-time shows.

"It's a tremendous idea. TV is so influential. This is a tremendous opportunity to educate Americans to the idea that drinking and driving is socially unacceptable," says Vicki Walling Smith of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the largest anti-drunk driving organization on the country.

Unlike the "Just Say No" campaign against illegal drug use, the Project is currently aimed at preventing drinking and driving, not drinking itself.

Abuse of alcohol "is an enormous problem area. Young adults use alcohol as a rite of passage, for male bonding, to ease socialization. We've tried to carve out something doable and achievable...Drunk driving is a more comfortable way to raise the issue of alcohol abuse," Winsten says.

Even campaigns against drunk driving have encountered trouble. Previous anti-drunk driving campaigns have used advertisements saying, in essence, "Don't Drink and Drive or You'll Get Caught," say participants in the Project. But these campaigns have not been effective, because so few people are ever arrested for drunk driving, say those fighting the problem.

As a result of this failure, Smith says, the "designated driver"--the member of a group who stays sober and drives the others home--has become "the concept of the future...It's the easiest way for people to go ahead with their lives and still make a responsible decision."

Encouraging the use of a designated driver "gets past the negative 'Don't Drink' image. It's addressed to a group not simply an individual. It's a message we can easily communicate. We can depict it in entertaiment programming. We can track it over time. And it gives social legitimacy to not drink," Winsten says.

Unlike most anti-drunk driving efforts, which confine their media work to sponsoring public service ads, the Project is also trying a new approach.

After intense lobbying efforts, Winsten persuaded the 13 television studios "to occasionally lay in a line or two of dialogue about drinking and driving," Winsten says. "A host will offer a couple a drink when they arrive at a party and one of them will say, `No thanks, I'm driving.' We are only asking them to do it occasionally, but we hope the cumulative effect will be significant."

TV shows including Wiseguy, Hunter, and Tattinger's have already included such lines in broadcast episodes, Winsten says, and 15 more shows have promised to do the same. In all, Winsten estimates two-thirds of the top 30 prime-time network shows will contain dialogue about drinking and driving. A few programs even plan to devote whole scenes or episodes to the topic, he says.

These lines of dialogue may reach people who might not respond to public service ads. "Different demographic groups follow different programs and identify with characters," Winsten says.

Loss of Creative Control?

At first, some studios were wary of including the lines of dialogue. Former chair of NBC Grant A. Tinker, who introduced Winsten to writers and producers, says, "Some took it as though we were slipping some message about Communism...Some creative people took umbrage because of loss of creative control. That's bullshit. Jay has a very reasonable approach. You know he is not selling Communism."

Now the idea is facing another unexpected difficulty. Writers and producers are not putting in any alcohol use at all into shows, and "if there is no alcohol use, there is no driving after drinking. They are having trouble finding a place to put lines about driving and drinking," he says. Basically, according to Winsten, there has been a "halo effect," as writers avoid alcohol altogether.

The Project is also using more traditional methods, by prompting an increase in public service announcements encouraging use of the designated driver. Celebrities like Sajak and Dr. Joyce Brothers will serve as "talking heads" for ads during this holiday season, says Matthew D. Margo, vice-president for programming and practices of CBS' New York broadcast group.

The networks produced the announcements with recent research by Saatchi & Saatchi DFS Compton, an ad agency, in mind. Saatchi & Saatchi's pro bono work for the Project found that young adults often view the designated driver as a "repressive parental figure." Saatchi & Saatchi suggested that the networks portray the driver as "cool...a guy who can party down," says Dr. William DeJong, director of research for Harvard's Center for Health Communication.

Right now, the networks put special emphasis on anti-drunk driving programming during the winter holidays, but the Project would like more effort made. "There's a big peak in drunk driving just before Christmas and New Year's but also around July 4 and Labor Day," says Winsten. "Our goal is to get the mass media doing this year-round...to get American society tuned to the problem year round."

Media interest in drunk driving peaked in 1983 after the fierce lobbying efforts of MADD and other groups resulted in harsher anti-drunk driving legislation and the raising of the drinking age, says DeJong. He cites work done by MADD and the Department of Transportation as "changing the way people view the problem of drunk driving, not seeing it as just one of those things that happens, no longer viewing it as much as an 'accident.'"

But, when 1986 statistics showed a slight jump in drunk driving fatalities after some years of decline, it became clear that another media campaign was needed, DeJong says. The Center for Health Communication, which specializes in using the media to combat personal health problems, decided to take up the issue.

So last December, Winsten launched the Project because he felt the "Public [was] primed and ready to respond." According to a Gallup poll, designated driving has become more acceptable in recent years. About 91 percent of Americans support the idea of the designated driver and 78 percent are willing to stay sober and drive sometimes, the 1987 poll showed. Winsten also notes the increase in taxi and designated driver use among the young.

CBS' Margo says that TV's support for the announcements and the programs is not surprising. "The record shows a very strong committment against alcohol abuse...the records show we have spent significant millions on anti-alcohol campaigns."

Television people are especially willing to participate in the Project because, "TV gets its lumps for a lot. Except for news...it really does not make contribution beyond entertainment," Tinker says.

The goal of promoting designated driver use "is achievable. It's winnable. It can actually save lives. Jay Winsten and Harvard have been very reasonable and balanced in their approach. The depth and breadth of industry-wide participation in the project is very rare," says Margo.

The industry's participation may prove especially important, because television has in the past presented alcohol and drug abuse as a normal part of life.

"There was a time when TV was somewhat irresponsible. It wasn't that long ago that we were making jokes about drugs. We cleaned up our act. It takes something like this [the Project] to get people interested," Tinker says.

Winsten says he has other campaigns in mind. He would like to create a anti-drunk driving announcement that would run during movie previews. However, the Project has not yet found funding to produce such an ad. Winsten says he also hopes to get a celebrity who has had intimate experience with the problems of drunk driving make public appearances for the campaign.

The future of the Harvard Alcohol Project is obscure. Winsten has drawn up an "early draft" of a strategic plan for addressing the entire issue of problem drinking over the next few years. But it is a long way from implementation.

For now, turn on the TV and pay attention.