An H1N1 Humor Injection: Can You Say FluTube?

An H1N1 Humor Injection: Can You Say FluTube?
"Physician Musician" John D. Clarke has been creating "health hop" since 1997. (Associated Press)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/14/AR2009091402165.html?wpisrc=newsletter&

By Rachel Saslow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The YouTube video starts with a tightly cropped shot of a white lab coat embroidered with the name "John D. Clarke, M.D." The camera zooms out and Clarke, wearing aviator sunglasses and taking himself very seriously, launches into his rap, set to an earnest buh-doom, buh-doom beat.

YouTube VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gwUdmPl0bU&feature=player_embedded

H1N1 swine flu infection

For intervention, I bring prevention.

Dr. Clarke here I come to make your head numb . . .

I'm recommending wash your hands for protection

Front and back real thorough while you count 20 seconds.

Hand sanitizer, I advise you get it, why?

It makes germs die when you rub and let it dry.

Watch out, Dr. Dre, there's a new rapping doctor out there -- and he actually went to medical school.

You can see him at http://www.youtube.com/USGOVHHS, home of the Department of Health and Human Services' contest for public service announcements about flu prevention. Launched in July, the contest aimed to enlist public creativity to get out the department's message about washing your hands, not touching your face, and coughing into your sleeve or a tissue. Entries were required to end with a shout-out to the Web site Flu.gov.

The contest drew about 240 entries; most can still be seen on YouTube.

In one, a disembodied hand takes a toothbrush out of its bathroom holder, then scrubs it across ATM buttons, a computer mouse, a car door handle, a handrail and a cat before placing it carefully back over the sink. (This is all set to dainty classical music. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G, to be specific.) The video ends with the text, "It's the same as touching your mouth without washing your hands."

"We wanted people to be creative and be funny because, frankly, that gets the message across better," said Richard Stapleton, deputy director of HHS's division of Web communications and new media. "You don't get your message across until people watch it, and if you have some dude lecturing you, not a lot of people are watching that."

In other words, they want the message to go . . . viral.

"Love it," wrote one YouTube viewer. "Very un-government-like."

A panel of HHS employees plus one professional television producer whittled the entries down to 10 finalists and invited the public to vote for its favorite at http://www.flu.gov. Voting will end at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.

More than 40,000 people had cast votes by last week, Stapleton said. Most of the finalists have attracted about 5,000 views, but one of them, the rapping Dr. Clarke, has cracked 57,500. Those aren't exactly Susan Boyle numbers, but it's no doubt more people -- and younger people -- than would voluntarily watch an ordinary PSA about the flu.

"Everybody who looks at them gets the message of ways to prevent the spread of the flu," Stapleton said. "Before we find a winner and promote that, it's already been a tremendous success."

The contest winner, to be announced Sept. 22, gets $2,500; the PSA will be used on national television during this fall's flu season.

John "The Physician Musician" Clarke, whose day job is medical director of the Long Island Rail Road, has been creating "health hop" music since 1997. He wrote his 60-second PSA three months ago (plus a freestyle, or improvised, version, which is also on YouTube) before he knew about the HHS contest.

"I'm excited about it because I do strongly believe that health hop, using rap music to reach young people with health information, is effective," Clarke said.

Comments: saslowr@washpost.com.

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Any outcries of "FAIL - Bad TASTE - this SUCKS" - will be SHOT DOWN...
because the person delivering this insane message is BLACK
They have carefully put together this psyop --

Refusing the Vaccine = You're not 'cool', have no sense of humor, and you probably hate black people.

Now, if you watched that video, quick - take the antidote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbt_PuVAVTU