Over the last few days, the TechCrunch tips box has been flooded with pitches from companies looking to capitalize on ‘Swine Flu’, the potentially pandemic disease that is currently freaking out a significant portion of Earth’s inhabitants. Now that everyone is stressing about it, what better time to make a buck, right?
First, there’s Flu Shirts, an online T-Shirt marketplace brought to you by some of the people behind Groopvine. The store has a variety of shirts mocking the current hysteria, emblazoned with taglines like “Maybe the Muslims were right about pigs” and “My dad went to Mexico and all he got me was swine flu”.
Then there’s Swine Fighter a Flash game from the guys who brought you HeyZap. Gameplay consists of clicking on diseased pigs to inject them with something and make them say, “Oink!” The game has done quite well, hitting the Digg front page and seeing over 150,000 game plays in only 24 hours. It also features a handful of guidelines from the CDC, though they’re so far below the fold I suspect very few people actually saw them.
And of course the spammers are taking advantage of the widespread alarm, sending out countless Emails with subjects like “US declares emergency as Mexican flu death toll rises” to entice unsuspecting readers.
Some of promotions currently being offered by companies are actually potentially useful, albeit opportunistic, like Phonevite’s decision to allow organizations to use its mass communication tools free of charge to broadcast emergency messages. There’s also ZocDoc the online booking site for doctors’ appointments, which has set up a dedicated hub for Swine Flu checkups being offered by doctors in the New York area. We’ve also gotten a variety of pitches from companies that have absolutely nothing to do with the disease, but are coming up with creative ways to explain how they’re helping.
Just on a personal note, I’ve always found jokes about potentially pandemic diseases to be more than a little disconcerting. People are dying. The WHO just bumped up the Swine Flu’s pandemic alert to its second highest level. I understand that many people like to laugh as a way to cope with their own mortality, and some of the media reactions are over the top, but some of this seems like grossly opportunistic capitalism. So, uh, keep rocking those T-shirts.
You can follow CDC news and the Swine Flu progress at http://www.twib...m/CDC_Emergency
you can get it from the CDC RSS too, the horse’s mouth:
http://www.cdc....wr/rss/mmwr.xml
A little distasteful and not very clever. Snark is only cute when people aren’t dying and scared for their life.
Very distasteful, but the history of corporate finance is the history of death mongering. That’s why we’re floored. We don’t respect the dead.
Someone make a one-page web app on facebook for everyone to declare whether or not they have purchased simple mask as a preventive like this:
—————
236576 masks , 48923 pledges
Your entry:
I have purchased a mask to prevent the flu from spreading to me or from me.
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
And your pledge:
I shall not panic, but take precautions.
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
Thank you for your submission!
*please* do this, I beg of you.
It’s not a joking matter.
First!
FAIL!
totally
what is this, the superficial? #FAIL is right.
Way to take advantage of a "pandemic" Michael!
Thank you, the media fail to point out that every story about a crisis or catastrophe puts money in their pocket. The self-righteousness is just ridiculous.
If people buy the t-shirts, then their is a demand for the shirts… don’t blame the merchants for fulfilling a demand.
If you got rid of humor about every subject involving risk, there would be no humor.
Two emotions dictate most economic behavior: fear and greed.
+1. Spot on.
People are dying which is sad for sure. But for some perspective: more people are killed falling off ladders than from swine flu.
The real problem is that the media hype is actually killing more people than the swine flu. It’s clogging up ERs and trauma centers so people with really serious conditions are getting delayed treatment.
I think it’s not just sad that people are dying; it’s sad because people are making a quick buck and laughter out of deaths and something as serious as this. Maybe we don’t really value people’s lives anymore, other than making money out of them.
“I understand that many people like to laugh as a way to cope with their own mortality, and some of the media reactions are over the top, but some of this seems like grossly opportunistic capitalism.”
I think that’s probably the most thought-provoking line of the entry.
Hopefully the media hype will do more than just scaring people to declare themselves an emergency when they’re not, and instead educate people on what to do (and what not to do) to protect themselves and their loved ones.
“I think it’s not just sad that people are dying; it’s sad because people are making a quick buck and laughter out of deaths and something as serious as this.”
It’s the american way… where were you after 9/11?
You just got a powerful business boost:
Remarks by Secretary Napolitano at Today’s Media Briefing on the H1N1 Flu Outbreak and the U.S. Government’s Response
Release Date: April 29, 2009
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact 202-282-8010
Washington, D.C.
…
“Precautions are being taken to protect travelers and border personnel. Anyone exhibiting symptoms is being referred to an isolation room where they can be evaluated by a public health official before proceeding to their destruction.”
People are dying which is sad for sure. But for some perspective: more people are killed falling off ladders than from swine flu.
I think it’s about time that people started making fun of this out of control media hype. More people die every year from regular flu. About the only thing that kills less people every year is shark attacks. People need to stop watching the hype and look up the facts if they are offended by this shirt.
I think it is foolish to gauge how deadly a pandemic is when it is clearly still growing. Also, deaths aren’t the only negative consequence – even having large portions of the population out with ‘just the flu’ can disrupt things pretty badly.
Possibly a little premature to be calling this a pandemic yet. But the point is well made. It’s too soon to tell. The wolf may actually be there this time.
Hopefully we’ll be able to look back in a couple of years and laugh at the panic of the Aporkalypse. But we could just be on the edge of Parmageddon
So the WHO declared the swine flu a level 5 which means that a pandemic is imminent but it’s still not officially a pandemic. The main thing is to keep this thing in proper perspective. Dr. Z in the article below describes how infectious diseases like malaria are far more dangerous than the swine flu and yet receive WAY less media attention. Be diligent about hand washing, keeping a distance from those who are visibly sick and keep informed but don’t panic.
http://www.ever...ikely-pandemic/
“Maybe the Muslims were right about pigs” lol great i am a muslim and I don’t eat the pig
Not Swine Flu, is Pig Flu.
Wrong. The official internet name for the disease is now “Bacon Lung”.
I guess we are suppose to see the magic of Twitter on this swine flu outbreak. People have been writing that Twitter will revolutionize news. I guess twitter is not really influential in covering swine flu and informing the masses so far.
We provide include: North America (NAFTA), South American countries, the EU 27 countries, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Russia and other 248 countries and regions in a variety of Customs bill of lading data, import and export trade (Statistics) data. http://www.customs-data.com.cn
Competitive Intelligence Global Trade System (GT) data contains a large number of buyers and sellers information such as number of transactions prices, both absolute quality so far on any channel (for example, B2B, event, etc.) suppliers and buyers to study the information and products in the the positioning of the global market to provide authoritative and accurate data and reports!
http://www.cust...m.cn/EUREKA-CA/
swine flu makes every country at risk. It’s really alarming.
my latest web comic about swine flu:
http://bit.ly/10g9UE
correct link: http://bit.ly/t9R4D
Blame the airlines who spread this disease, not people making jokes about the aporkalypse.
Swine flu has been really alarming. I found a cool way to track Swine Flu cases in all neighborhoods. Just add the Swine Flu tracklet at http://www.trackle.com to get updates.
Obama: Flu outbreak ‘a very serious situation’ (CNN) http://tinyurl.com/cfph8q – News alert (http://www.trackle.com)
Technology ruling everywhere…
Cheers !
HellBound Bloggers
This pandemic situation is creating opportunities for many who are trying to get the most out of it on the net.
What’s sad however is that the web is already filled with swine flu articles, topics, discussion etc but if only a such rapid run to make a vaccine too would have been there..it would have been much better. Its sad to see so many dying with this virus.
Jason,
I agree that attempts at profiting or exploiting people’s fears at a time of possible pandemic is tacky, to say the least. But it’s a fine line, particularly in our situation. ZocDoc helps people find doctor appointments – that’s what we do. And, to be clear, we are a free website for patients. Our doctors asked us to create the dedicated hub we did because their offices couldn’t handle the flood of phone calls coming in from worried patients.
I suppose we could have sat back and done nothing at this time of widespread fear, but we believe that helping people quickly find and make appointments for Swine Flu checkups is in the best interest of the public. As a website trying to improve healthcare, we did not see this as a business opportunity – we see this as our responsibility.
Thank you.
Karsten Vagner
Director of Communications
ZocDoc
Save the drama for you mama. This is just a business opportunity. ZocDoc is barely in the radar in other cities besides New York. This is definitely fear mongering.
why is there so much panic over swine flu? I am a london based doctor and if i met a journalist and perhaps the author of this article i would have to restrain myself from causing serious bodily harm.
About 36,000 Americans die from normal flu every year, and only one ‘American’ child has died from this mass media driven hysteria of swine flu.
let us get some prospective of the real situation. Laughing and staying clam is actually better treatment for this ‘Pandemic’ mess then stressing, worrying and weakening a normal person’s immune system, and become actually ill.
I am off to buy a t-shirt and put a smile on as many faces as possible!
Question, are the pharmaceutical companies ‘monetizing’?
Okay, so this morning a report comes out on http://www.Amer...anParchment.com that the President of Mexico is telling everyone to stay home. When I looked at the site I didn’t see a link but said it was a developing story. Interesting though. If the President of Mexico tells everyone to stay home, that would mean less people should be going across the boarder by walking, flying, or driving, right. So in his own efforts, he has tried to close the border. Something our administration wasn’t even willing to do. How can they say it would be ineffective. If you had a cold wouldn’t you try every way to keep from getting sick, like taking Zicam, Cold-Ease, drinking a lot of water, etc. Wouldn’t closing the border and/or allowing only American Citizens to cross the border after a thorough check help cut down on the possibility of keeping the cold or spreading it to others???
In addition, doesn’t a WHO Level 5 Pandemic Protocol call for borders to be closed to stop the spread it the disease?
I apologize for starting the Swine Flu…
Complete Mistake:
http://www.yout...h?v=4RIrfd8E8lM
Hospitals should give those t-shirts to the people showing up at the ER wanting to know if they have the swine flu and have no symptoms.
Speaking about opportunism, according to this site, the Maldives is actually lobbying to “sponsor the name” to attract tourism:
http://tinyurl.com/maldivesflu
location based social networking that people can plot their sicknesses and other people know where to stay away from. w00t
i give it 3 weeks before the hype wears out
Capitalism knows no boundaries.
It looks like the swine flu fake pandemic was a huuuuge dud. Only one death in the US. Only 150 deaths in Mexico. So much for the end of the world. keep buying stocks and making money htp://iamned.com/blog/ huge bull market
The whole “Swine Flu” thing is completely blown out of proportion.
30,000 people die from the Flu every year in the US alone and gets little more than a slight glossing over in the Media.
It’s also strange that the victims who die of the REGULAR flu tend to be either the very young or very old and those who die of the SWINE FLU are also either very young, or very old. Hmmmm…
Just because there is a new “version” of an age-old illness doesn’t mean that we need to run around like pigs with our heads cut off in the grip of mortal fear that somehow this is going to turn into the plague from Steven King’s “The Stand”.
For all the profiteering, this t-shirt company is claiming to give some back:
http://www.tshi...ew-T-shirt.html
So TC bit on a fake tip. http://kyro.pos...in-under-a-week
Now the effect of swine flu is some what decreased and more over these days technology is dancing..,
So no need of worry
Good post and excellent site. keep rocking dear.