The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is known for its ability to disseminate information to large groups of people when it comes to disaster situations. In the wake in this past winter and the recent earthquake in Japan, the CDC has begun a more aggressive campaign of PSAs, reaching a new level of ‘scare’ tactics. Whether or not you consider it a high or a low for the group, the newest disaster preparedness campaign from the CDC is lively, if a bit dead in execution.

The newest push for disaster preparedness is based in the recent popularity behind the idea of a zombie apocalypse. According to Oh My Gov, the CDC is using the ‘zombiepocolypse’ as a platform to launch the campaign on social media sites like Twitter:

“…the CDC's Emergencey [sic]  Preparedness and Response team took the zombie angle to make salient points about how to deal with a more probable scenario such as a hurricane or earthquake. Tips like keeping updated stocks of First Aid supplies and non-perishable food, as well as pointers like designating an "out-of-state" contact in case of emergency can be applied the types of catastrophes more likely to emerge at some point.”

As I mentioned before, the CDC has been looking to get more followers on Facebook and Twitter as a way to update people of concerns in real time and it looks like the zombie campaign has contributed a number of new followers:

“The success of the CDC's post in terms of both readership…and social media popularity are further proof that a bit of social media savvy combined with a knowing sense of humor can help federal agencies get notice for their more important initiatives. Chances are most people who read the CDC's zombie post did not give a great deal of thought to disaster preparedness beforehand, but by hooking readers with a clever premise the agency was able to presumably get its more serious message across.”