Jay Winsten
Encyclopedia
Jay Winsten is an associate dean at the Harvard School of Public Health
and the Frank Stanton
Director of the School's Center for Health Communication. He is best known for his work in social marketing
, spearheading high-profile national social campaigns on designated driving
, youth violence
, and youth mentoring
. He also serves as Senior Communications Advisor to the United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria.
Trained as a molecular biologist
, Winsten served as co-editor of the three-volume work, Origins of Human Cancer with Nobel
laureate James Watson
and Howard Hiatt, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health. Winsten's 1985 study, Science and the Media: The Boundaries of Truth, was praised by the Columbia Journalism Review
as a "landmark study on the relationship between science and the press."
in the United States in the late 1980s, and is credited for contributing to lower rates of driving under the influence
. The Harvard Alcohol Project solicited involvement from the broadcasting
industry to spread the concept not only through public service announcement
s and news coverage, but through the inclusion of designated driving themes and references in popular television programs. The campaign is considered the first successful effort to mobilize the Hollywood creative community on a large scale to promote health messages, having facilitated use of the campaign theme in more than 160 prime time
shows during the 1988-1992 television seasons. Sparking a national movement, with endorsements by renowned leaders in a broad range of professional fields, the strategy pioneered by the campaign was later emulated by other interest groups.
initiative, The "Squash It!" Campaign to Prevent Youth Violence, launched in 1994. "Squash It!" centered around the use of the "squash it" phrase and an associated hand gesture to promote a social norm
of walking away from potentially violent confrontations by framing it as "cool"
and smart, rather than cowardly. The "Squash It!" meme was incorporated in a wide variety of television programs, films, and rap songs. The "squash" gesture, based on the time-out signal in sports, is performed by bringing the palm of a flat hand down onto a vertical clenched fist, forming a stylized "T". Though not considered as successful as the designated driver campaign, based on a national survey of junior and senior high school students, "Squash It!" was found to be particularly influential with African-Americans, its primary target group.
in Philadelphia, chaired by General Colin Powell
. As an outgrowth of the Summit, Winsten and colleagues began to shift focus to youth mentoring
with the launch of the Harvard Mentoring Project, organizing a year-round national media campaign from 1998 to 2001 with support from the major broadcast television networks. In 2002, the campaign developed into National Mentoring Month
, a focused campaign held each January to recruit volunteer mentors for at-risk youth. National Mentoring Month won the support of three successive U.S. presidents, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, helping to establish mentoring as an important national priority.
Harvard School of Public Health
The Harvard School of Public Health is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Area of the Boston, Massachusetts neighborhood of Mission Hill, which is next to Harvard Medical School. HSPH is considered a significant school focusing on health in the...
and the Frank Stanton
Frank Stanton
Frank Nicholas Stanton was an American broadcasting executive who served as the president of CBS between 1946 and 1971 and then vice chairman until 1973. He also served as the chairman of the Rand Corporation from 1961 until 1967.Along with William S. Paley, Stanton is credited with the...
Director of the School's Center for Health Communication. He is best known for his work in social marketing
Social marketing
Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing, along with other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good. Social marketing can be applied to promote merit goods, or to make a society avoid demerit goods and thus to promote society's well being as...
, spearheading high-profile national social campaigns on designated driving
Designated driver
The terms "designated driver" and "designated driving" refer to selecting a person to remain sober, as the driver of a vehicle, while others are allowed to drink to excess . A designated driver is a person who abstains from alcohol on a social occasion in order to drive his/her companions home safely...
, youth violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
, and youth mentoring
Youth mentoring
Youth mentoring is the process of matching mentors with young people who need or want a caring, responsible adult in their lives. Adult mentors are usually unrelated to the child or teen and work as volunteers through a community-, school-, or church-based social service program.Although informal...
. He also serves as Senior Communications Advisor to the United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria.
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
, Winsten served as co-editor of the three-volume work, Origins of Human Cancer with Nobel
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
laureate James Watson
James D. Watson
James Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick...
and Howard Hiatt, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health. Winsten's 1985 study, Science and the Media: The Boundaries of Truth, was praised by the Columbia Journalism Review
Columbia Journalism Review
The Columbia Journalism Review is an American magazine for professional journalists published bimonthly by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961....
as a "landmark study on the relationship between science and the press."
Designated drivers
As founding director of the Center for Health Communication, Winsten was the driving force behind the Harvard Alcohol Project, which introduced and popularized the social concept of the designated driverDesignated driver
The terms "designated driver" and "designated driving" refer to selecting a person to remain sober, as the driver of a vehicle, while others are allowed to drink to excess . A designated driver is a person who abstains from alcohol on a social occasion in order to drive his/her companions home safely...
in the United States in the late 1980s, and is credited for contributing to lower rates of driving under the influence
Driving under the influence
Driving under the influence is the act of driving a motor vehicle with blood levels of alcohol in excess of a legal limit...
. The Harvard Alcohol Project solicited involvement from the broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
industry to spread the concept not only through public service announcement
Public service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...
s and news coverage, but through the inclusion of designated driving themes and references in popular television programs. The campaign is considered the first successful effort to mobilize the Hollywood creative community on a large scale to promote health messages, having facilitated use of the campaign theme in more than 160 prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
shows during the 1988-1992 television seasons. Sparking a national movement, with endorsements by renowned leaders in a broad range of professional fields, the strategy pioneered by the campaign was later emulated by other interest groups.
Youth violence
Following the success of the Harvard Alcohol Project, Winsten and colleagues used the same approach in a second social marketingSocial marketing
Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing, along with other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good. Social marketing can be applied to promote merit goods, or to make a society avoid demerit goods and thus to promote society's well being as...
initiative, The "Squash It!" Campaign to Prevent Youth Violence, launched in 1994. "Squash It!" centered around the use of the "squash it" phrase and an associated hand gesture to promote a social norm
Norm (sociology)
Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...
of walking away from potentially violent confrontations by framing it as "cool"
Cool (aesthetic)
Something regarded as cool is an admired aesthetic of attitude, behavior, comportment, appearance and style, influenced by and a product of the Zeitgeist. Because of the varied and changing connotations of cool, as well its subjective nature, the word has no single meaning. It has associations of...
and smart, rather than cowardly. The "Squash It!" meme was incorporated in a wide variety of television programs, films, and rap songs. The "squash" gesture, based on the time-out signal in sports, is performed by bringing the palm of a flat hand down onto a vertical clenched fist, forming a stylized "T". Though not considered as successful as the designated driver campaign, based on a national survey of junior and senior high school students, "Squash It!" was found to be particularly influential with African-Americans, its primary target group.
Youth mentoring
Winsten headed a communications task force which helped to plan the 1997 Presidents' Summit on America's FutureAmerica's Promise
America's Promise — The Alliance for Youth is a foundation founded by Colin Powell in 1997 to help children and youth from all socioeconomic sectors in the United States.In late April 1997 Presidents Bill Clinton, George H. W...
in Philadelphia, chaired by General Colin Powell
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
. As an outgrowth of the Summit, Winsten and colleagues began to shift focus to youth mentoring
Youth mentoring
Youth mentoring is the process of matching mentors with young people who need or want a caring, responsible adult in their lives. Adult mentors are usually unrelated to the child or teen and work as volunteers through a community-, school-, or church-based social service program.Although informal...
with the launch of the Harvard Mentoring Project, organizing a year-round national media campaign from 1998 to 2001 with support from the major broadcast television networks. In 2002, the campaign developed into National Mentoring Month
National Mentoring Month
National Mentoring Month is a campaign held each January to promote youth mentoring in the United States. It was inaugurated in 2002, and is spearheaded by the Harvard School of Public Health, MENTOR, and the Corporation for National and Community Service....
, a focused campaign held each January to recruit volunteer mentors for at-risk youth. National Mentoring Month won the support of three successive U.S. presidents, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, helping to establish mentoring as an important national priority.
External links
- Biography at the Harvard School of Public HealthHarvard School of Public HealthThe Harvard School of Public Health is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Area of the Boston, Massachusetts neighborhood of Mission Hill, which is next to Harvard Medical School. HSPH is considered a significant school focusing on health in the...
website - Center for Health Communication website