Center For Disease Control Zombie Awareness Campaign

Part of the Center of Disease Control’s zombie preparedness campaign is a zombie novella; “Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic“. The CDC has decided to spread its message of being prepared for any disastrous situation through a relatively entertaining way by framing it in the current fad (zombies) and made it enjoyable for all ages.

“Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic” revolves around Todd, Julie, and their dog Max as the town confronts a disease that is turning people into zombies. The most story consist of Todd and his dog Max being aware of the situation and preparing for the zombie pandemic. During the story the CDC is clearly mentioned by the news anchor, and on the computer in which they learn more information about the disease that is spreading.

The protagonist even reads off a list that mention various supplies to overcome a pandemic such as water, food, flashlight, battery-powered or hand-crank radio, extra batteries, and first aid kit.

The zombie novella is an example of the one-way asymmetrical model as there is no communication between the CDC and its audience about the zombie novella. The CDC  uses persuasion and manipulation to influence audience to change its behaviors. Persuasion can attempt to influence a person’s beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviors. In this case it would be to have the audience acknowledge their readiness for a zombie pandemic.

“I’ve been thinking…we should really make an emergency kit in case something happened. What if we were stuck in the house or had to evacuate? We need to have a plan!”

In this quote from the zombie novella, it shows the character making a realization that he should prepare an emergency kit and  it makes the reader question their own readiness. Which is the exact thing the CDC wants to reader to recognized and will eventually make the move towards change. The novella even includes a checklist so that readers can get their family ready before a disaster occurs. This grabs the readers’ attention and has a better effect than any other methods of making a person aware of how prepare they are.

Here is an Alt Text for Graphic Novella , which is the complete “Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic” zombie novella.

In terms of the other blog post by the CDC’s Zombie Pandemic Campaign was successful. Its blog post was a hit and had thousands of visitors. The zombie fad is rising in popularity, the CDC took advantage to demonstrate an issue that effects many people, and created an educators website so than many educators can make people aware of the issue that many are not prepare for a pandemic and steps to how they can prepare for such an event.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 9th, 2013 at 8:05 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.