Service Minded Zombies

Zombies are pop culture icons these days, and now in a pretty abrupt switch for its usual Public Service Announcement the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation is using them to teach CPR online. The ad, which has gone viral is done in Night of the Living Dead Style – a lone woman races through city streets, eventually going into cardiac arrest when she finds herself trapped by a crowd zombies. The zombies give her CPR in fewquick steps (calling 911, quick pumps to the heart) and then, well, devour her. But that’s not the point: the ad has gone viral online, becoming a brilliant example of how to speak to an internet generation about an important public service. (Since research shows that even people are often reluctant to jump in and help those having a heart attack for fear of making it worse.) It’s a reminder, that Sunday mornings, or youryouth group meetings, can be a good chance to talk about our responsibilities to each other – and maybe even attend CPR training as a group. But it’s also a media lesson to the church about how we could perhaps sell the message of the gospel more cleverly – so that people pay attention. Zombies might be taking things too far, I agree (hey, I can’t even stomach the TV show Walking Dead) but the people at the Heart and Stroke Foundation suddenly have a lot of people watching, and they might have saved a life or two. Even zombies, it appears, may be good for something after all. To watch the video and read a Globe piece on the campaign, click here:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/heart-and-stroke-campaign-uses-zombies-to-promote-cpr/article4593241/