“Scaring people has only a short-term effect,” said Jones, former CEO of the J. Walter Thompson Company. “Panic often subsides into complacency.”

Jones said that an effective public health message has to be simple, can’t preach and must offer more information so the audience can follow up.

Reaching the public is more difficult today than even 20 years ago, he added. Cable, the Internet and handheld computers now compete for the public’s attention with radio, television and print. Public debate today is much more adversarial than in the past. This overwhelming load leads to commercial message fatigue and then to indifference.

To break through the clutter and din, a public health communications strategy must identify which behaviors can be affected by communications, Jones said. Then — however difficult it seems — health and communications professionals must collaborate to simplify the message to make it persuasive for mass audiences.

Other symposium speakers included the Center’s Jessie Gruman, Ph.D., Daniel Chirot, Ph.D, of the University of Washington and Roberta Walburn of the national law firm Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, LLP.

-- Aaron Levin, Health Behavior News Service