Sebelius says, "Only you can prevent the Swine Flu."
The US Department of Health and Human Services via the website “Flu.gov” is holding a video contest to get the word out about how to prevent getting the swine flu. Yeah…take a second to let that soak in.
Here was what H.H.S. was looking for: “Create a 15, 30, or 60 second video Public Service Announcement (PSA) that will inform and motivate people to take steps that will help prevent the spread of the flu. Make your video fun, smart, and entertaining.”
The contest was announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a youtube video of such shocking technical quality that it’s almost creepy. I don’t mean the video was fancy or anything it’s just that even the Standard Quality version of the video is so crisp and so sharp that it’s like a mini-Kathleen Sebelius is inside your computer talking to you through a hole in the screen. Seriously, what the hell kind of camera did they use to shoot that?!? Some secret NASA space cam that’s designed to make hyper-quality youtube videos? Here, check it out:
The prize in this contest is only $2,500 but Flu.gov managed to get around 240 entries. That’s a really good response. I bet the Health and Human Services spent a butt-load of taxpayer cash to promote the contest though. At the very least, every public school and government office in the country probably got a fax abut it.
Anyway, the contest organizers recently picked their Top Ten finalists. Now the winner will be picked in the cruelest way possible; a public vote….where users can cast a vote ONCE A DAY!
Oh God, what a nightmare. It’s hard enough to get all of your relatives and facebook friends to vote for your video once. But getting people to do it every day must be brutal. I love entering video contests but I never, ever enter competitions where the winner is selected by a “once a day” public vote. Why do contest organizers even do that?!? Don’t they know it’s just going to result in a bloody popularity contest where finalists sit at home registering accounts all day so that can keep up with everyone else’s cheating?
I’m guessing that by allowing people to vote every day contest organizers think that it’s going to cause a huge spike in web traffic. But why does the USDHHS care about that? Are they hoping to start selling ad space on Flu.gov?
As I said, there are 10 finalists in this competition. The quality of the videos is actually pretty high. Of course there’s the obligatory rap video, animated text video and fancy CGI video but those ain’t nothing to write home about. Here are some of the best entries:
Voting ends September 16th so be sure to go to the website and vote EVERY DAY! Or just once would be cool too, I guess.
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