E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSCould you get 200 wedding guests into the bathroom if a tornado hit?
The CDC team that brought us zombie preparedness tips last year seems to have hit on one good formula for helping Americans get ready for disasters, natural or otherwise, in a blog post on preparedness, experts say. And none too soon, as half of all Americas seem clueless about what they need to do to prepare, according to a new poll.
“You never know when Bridezilla might pop up,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's blog cautions. “Be supportive and have some bottled water from your emergency kit and a box of chocolate on hand.”
But it weaves in some serious pointers. “Make sure all of the guests are aware of who they can call if there is an emergency,” the blog, written by Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response staffer Caitlin Shockey, advises.
“If a tornado warning rips through the area, would you know what to do? 200 guests are not going to be able to crowd into the one windowless bathroom. Ask the reception venue for their emergency plans and evacuation routes.”
The blog post got more than 50,000 hits the first week, according to the site analytics company Omniture, and generated some lively comments, many of them critical.
“Another waste of taxpayer money. It (is) not our government('s) business to be in the wedding business, get out of our lives and spend the money reducing the debt,” complained one reader who gave the name Judith Sabella.
But risk communications expert Jody Lanard said controversy can be good. “It got people who are completely uninterested and who would never read past the headline of a safety article to read all the way through, even if the only reason they read through was because they thought it was stupid,” Lanard said in a telephone interview. “CDC has seduced them into reading it all the way through so they can hone their snarky remarks.”
The key is balancing humor with serious advice, said Lanard. “I think they are brilliant for doing this,” she said. “It’s so nice to have something nice to say about CDC.”
A survey released on Friday suggests it’s none too soon. It found 53 percent of the 1,000 adults questioned did not have the recommended three-day supply of nonperishable food and water stored at home, and 55 percent thought the authorities would look after them in case of a disaster – something the Health and Human Services Department and the Department of Homeland Security have repeatedly stressed is not the case.
The survey also found 63 percent did not have a list of their current medications prepared in case of a natural disaster and 52 percent lacked copies of health insurance documents.
“About a third of people weren’t sure they could name the prescription medications that they needed with the doses. That is surprising and alarming,” said Philip Alcabes, director of the Public Health Program at Adelphi University, who led the study. He said 44 percent didn’t have a first aid kit.
“Our health officials are doing a very good job -- maybe too good a job -- of warning people about unlikely events, but not a good job of letting people know how to be prepared to take care of themselves,” Alcabes said in a telephone interview.
But he isn’t sure about the Bridezilla blog. “Clearly CDC is trying to take account of the relatively new way that information spreads: put something onto the blogosphere, put it in Twitter. That makes sense,” he said. “But it is hard to know whether this sort of jocular approach makes sense. Do you get information across while you are kind of joking with people, or is it so ridiculous to people that they just stop paying attention?”
The comments were running four to one in favor of the Bridezilla jokes. “These blogs are probably the absolute cheapest, most effective way to get preparedness messages out to a broad audience. This blog right here probably saved CDC a TON of $$$ compared to the alternatives,” said a reader who gave only the name Mark. “Even the haters read it despite themselves. I think it’s a great follow up to the zombie apocolypse bit.”
The CDC Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response team, led by public relations veteran Dave Daigle and his associates Catherine Jamal and Maggie Silver, won an HHSInnovates award in March for the zombie blog post. “When the campaign went viral, its messages reached millions of viewers, and personal knowledge about preparing for disasters was enormously increased – for an initial investment of only $87,” HHS said in awarding the prize.
Erica Ayisi contributed to this story.
Related:
How to prepare for the zombie apocalypse? CDC has you covered
Leave a Comment:
Our tax dollars are hard at work promoting overt gender stereotypes on fake blog posts. Way to keep us safe, CDC.
Oh come on. It was using a little humor to reach an audience that wouldn't normally be reading about disaster preparedness.
Does every little thing have to be 100% politically correct in this world?
I agree Scuba. This effort on the CDC's part is genius. It gets people reading about preparedness who normally would never attempt to read the usual dry information that is on their site. I loved the Zombie tips and since my son-in-law is a big zombie fan it even got his attention. lol
The CDC is nothing but a big joke. How about informing the nation about autoimmune disease - since it is now more prevalent than heart disease and cancer combined? More people are dying of this disease everyday, yet 90% of people polled DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT IS! The CDC thinks you only care about zombies and bridezillas. Doesn't that insult your intelligence just a teeny tiny bit? Aren't you offended in the slightest?
Maybe this story is a cover up for the fact that autism is increasing at a rate of 600% in some states. Maybe they don't want to face the fact that they are doing a TERRIBLE job at controlling diseases!
maybe you should take a chill pill. The point of the humor if you would think outside of the box is that it is successful. By links such as these on MSNBC and I presume other news sites, people are being directed to the CDC site. Yes, the first stop is a humorous article about the bridezillas, but it gets you to their site and exposes u to other points on their sites where u can find such information. (Actually the CDC has a WHOLE section on autoimmune diseases if you bothered to check).
but isn't that exactly what the CDC is doing? providing information to keep people safe? who cares what it is called - if it spreads the word about how to be protected, and how to be safe then the CDC is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. if one bridezilla is prepared for that tornado - and knows what to do - those guests will likely live to see another wedding day. if a tornado rips through a reception hall and everyone is killed or injured - the first people to complain that the government wasnt' doing it job of preparedness would be the same people on here complaining that "they are doing their job of preparedness". odd isn't it?
Bridezilla is not funny, though. It is a gender-specific stereotype that some women live down to just because it exists. It wouldn't be funny if they discussed a Hispanic "bandito" raid or an Italian "Mafia" hit or a "Redneck" rampage--it just isn't funny.
If you think it's funny, you might want to go look in a mirror--or go take that test which shows to what degree you are biased against women (it's a free online test). It might help you keep a job, eventually.
A fearsome bunny attack might be funny (not in Australia, but probably here). An attack by the "Joker" might have been funny right up until yesterday. An attack of the killer tomatoes?
But, Bridezilla? No, not so much. Again, if you think it is funny (and given the degree of gender bias in the country, that's probably quite a few), you want to get some treatment as eventually it might be your job at stake due to your unacknowleged gender bias.
If i paid for it then yes, it should be politically correct. Zombies were funny, but the "What's wrong with using tax money to promote name-calling and ridicule directed at women" attitude is dangerous. Could you imagine the CDC promoting racial stereotypes? Or religious stereotypes? Gender discrimination is so acceptable in our culture that when tax-payer funded organizations do it, people applaud them for their humor. But when it comes to REALLY doing something to promote wellness and safety for the target of their joke, such as providing necessary reproductive health care for disadvantaged women, an angry mob raises their torches.
You're taking this WAY too seriously. How much money did it really cost for someone to write up this article for the CDC? Dollars to donuts it's something that someone did in their spare time and then showed it to a coworker that thought it was brilliant. It gets people to the website where they can feed you even more great information that can save lives.
People nowadays are focused on distraction and entertainment. You can't get them to look at important articles unless you put a spin on it (unfortunately). Besides, there are more important things to get upset about than a humorous article. It's like you're looking for a reason to be offended.
And maybe, just maybe, it was worth doing because it got people thinking a little. Seriously, can you imagine over 50% of the population expects a government rescue in the event of disaster... did Katrina teach them anything?
well, how many times have you seen men as groomzillas?? LOL... there's a reason there's reality shows based off of bridezillas!!!
@forth
You sound like you were one of those "Bridezillas"...
Besides, the CDC website *already* has information on all the major diseases we face here in the country. The trick was in finding a way to get the general public to go to the website in the first place.
As the article pointed out, for less than a hundred dollars, they managed to get millions of people to go to their website and read an article. As a website owner myself, I challenge anyone to find a better advertising campaign than that in the private sector
First of all 200 people is way too many. The Bride and Groom probably know only half of them. The rest are friends of both sets of parents who last saw you when Moses was a baby.
Because most of these folks profess to be adults then they should act like one. Find out about disaster plans BEFORE it happens and before you've had one too many.
I THINK you've missed the point of the article.
Hey, if I'm having a wedding, there better not be any disasters or else! I paid too much good money to have my perfect day ruined by any "Act of God". Someone's getting sued as soon as I figure out who was responsible for not making sure the weather was perfect! I mean, really, I plan and I plan and I plan and this s--t happens! Forget the guests, what about me? This day is all about me!
funny, this exact thing happened at my cousin's wedding a couple years ago. There was a tornado warning and because the ballroom and the community center was 3 walls of glass we had to all go sit in the locker rooms. My cousin was a good sport about it standing there on the pool-water soaked floor in her beautiful gown. My one recommendation for dealing with the scenario is have a plan for the seniors who come to your wedding. There were not enough places for people to sit and all the grandparents had to stand for about an hour and a half.
American mind-sets
Yah, but I bet 100% of them had enough ammo to last for a 3 month siege.
Stereotyping... nice. Anyone who has prepped ammo for a three month siege is a survivalist and has enough food and disaster preparedness to last out that same length of time... but hey... that would get in the way of your chance to stereotype them...
"CDC's bridezilla blog gets even critics talking preparedness"
What about un-even critics?
Zombies
Bridezilla
Desprite House Wives
Former Survivor contestants
And Martin Sheen Meltdown.
That should just about cover all the bases.
@CheriL How dare you distract me from my distractions and entertainment, just to offend me with your observation that I won't look at a thing unless it is made humorous. Important articles are always better with a spin. It's not my fault. If I wasn't laughing, I might be upset at all the cr@p going on around us. Notice, I'm not saying who's cr@p.
100% approval of spending my tax dollars on this inspirational mode of dispersing much needed information. Got a laugh, a kick in the arse to check my readiness, and relief from potential guilt when I won't have to worry about my neighbors who are unprepared because their panties are all twisted.
It seems to me the only people who would be offended by this were women who were actually bridezillas....lol.. (though in their minds that was never the case :)
It's cheap, and it gets people thinking. If the delivery were a boring standard government document, would anyone notice? By going out and stretching popular conventions the CDC has done a better job at getting people to think about preparedness than the old "duct tape and plastic" that we got during the early 2000's. Even taking the survey probably made a few more people think about what their prescriptions were, where their health insurance information is, or if they have a working flashlight.
People like Judith Sabella need to understand the government isn't in the wedding business, it's just pointing out that she needs to be responsible for her own plans during a wedding.