In 1988, the Center launched the U.S. Designated Driver Campaign as a new component of the nation’s comprehensive approach to preventing alcohol-related traffic fatalities and injuries. The campaign set out to demonstrate how a new social concept — the “designated driver” — could be imported from Scandinavia and rapidly diffused through American society via mass communication, catalyzing a fundamental shift in social norms relating to driving-after-drinking. All of the major Hollywood studios participated along with the ABC, CBS, and NBC television networks.

The New York Times reported on the campaign’s launch in a front page story on August 31, 1988:

The three major television networks and the Hollywood studios that produce most of their programming are joining in a coordinated attack against drinking and driving that will include dialogue in popular entertainment shows as well as public-service advertising…The Harvard Alcohol Project, as the cooperative effort is called, is intended “to model a new social norm.” While there have been informal attempts in the past to coordinate advertising and entertainment programming, “there has never been anything this organized,” said Grant Tinker, former chairman of NBC.

The project broke new ground when TV writers agreed to insert drunken driving prevention messages, including frequent references to designated drivers, into scripts of top-rated television programs, such as “Cheers,” “L.A. Law,” and “The Cosby Show.” Entertainment not only mirrors social reality, but also helps shape it by depicting what constitutes popular opinion, by influencing people’s perceptions of the roles and behaviors that are appropriate to members of a culture, and by modeling specific behaviors. The strength of this approach is that short messages, embedded within dialogue, are casually presented by characters who serve as role models within a dramatic context, facilitating social learning. The project’s strategy was endorsed in a unanimous resolution of the board of directors of the Writers Guild of America, West. Over a four-year period, more than 160 prime-time programs incorporated sub-plots, scenes, and dialogue on the subject, including frequent references to the use of designated drivers.

At Harvard’s request, ABC, CBS, and NBC also aired frequent public service announcements (PSAs) during prime time encouraging the use of designated drivers. This was the first time that the three networks produced and sponsored simultaneous campaigns with the same message. Harvard’s public relations activities further reinforced the campaign, generating extensive news coverage.

According to industry estimates, the campaign received over $100 million each year in donated television airtime. The campaign soon became transformed into a national movement as a broad range of prominent individuals (e.g., President George Bush, President Bill Clinton, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop); government agencies (e.g., the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], the federal Center for Substance Abuse Prevention); national organizations and advocacy groups (e.g., Mothers Against Drunk Driving); professional sports leagues (e.g., Major League Baseball [MLB], National Basketball Association [NBA]); major corporations (e.g., State Farm Insurance); and state and local police departments, endorsed and promoted the designated driver concept.

“Designated Driver” became a household phrase in the U.S. to such an extent that the term appeared in the 1991 Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. Public opinion polls documented the rapid, wide acceptance and strong popularity of the designated driver concept. According to the Roper Poll, the proportion of Americans serving as a designated driver reached 37% in 1991. Among Americans under the age of 30, 52% had actually been a designated driver, and among frequent drinkers, 54% had been driven home by a designated driver. By 1998, according to the Roper Poll, a majority of adults who drink had served as a designated driver and/or been driven home by one. Among frequent drinkers who consumed five or more drinks in the past seven days, 62% had served as a designated driver and/or been driven home by one.

When the campaign began in late 1988, annual alcohol-related traffic fatalities stood at 23,626. By 1994, fatalities had declined by 30%. A variety of factors were responsible for this striking progress, including new laws and strict enforcement. Polling data, cited above, suggests that the Designated Driver Campaign was an important factor, among the mix of factors, explaining the downward trend.

In 2017, Harvard Business School published a case study by Harvard Chan Professor Howard Koh and researcher Pamela Yatsko, examining the origins of the Center, lessons learned from the Designated Driver Campaign, and evidence of the campaign’s impact on alcohol-related traffic fatalities. The evaluation section of that study is here:

Harvard Business School Case Study: Jay Winsten and the Designated Driver Campaign

Why did the Designated Driver Campaign succeed?