Zombies: CDC's very smart promotion strategy

David Heath
Sunday, 22 May 2011 17:09

Science - Health

No-one pays any attention to the Centers for Disease Control.  Their warnings slide by; too rigid and esoteric to pique the interest of Joe Public.  Not any more!

In what has turned out to be a wonderful viral marketing coup, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) - the US' primary public health organisation published an amusing health warning outlining how to cope with a Zombie Apocalypse.

A What?

That's it; in these days of fictional wizards, warlocks, vampires and all manner of zombie attack, it's a great way to get the attention of teenagers and young adults.

There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That's right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you'll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you'll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.

After outlining all manner of potential attack, the blog posting returns to somewhat more mundane territory; but hopefully with better attention from the audience, specifying both a list of emergency supplies and how to develop a personal emergency plan.

The posting has been picked up by all manner of news outlets, bloggers and the like and has flooded across twitter.

So, after a small chortle at the joke they're playing; have a good look at the remainder of the posting - there's some useful home / family safety advice.

Who knows, perhaps the Zombies disrupted yesterday's Rapture!