Do you know that roughly 5,100 folks between 13 to 24 years-old visited the emergency room for accidents associated to utilizing their telephones whereas on the transfer between 2013 and 2022? Or that round 3,200 ER visits for a similar demographic throughout that point interval associated to fireworks? These are the types of issues the Client Safety Security Fee (CPSC) desires everybody to know—it’s an enormous a part of their job, in spite of everything. However a pair years in the past, CPSC’s social media specialist Joseph Galbo determined to coach the nation about these and different essential questions of safety by the ability of track.
“Goes with out saying, but it surely’s uncommon for any authorities messaging to be an in a single day success with younger folks,” he tells Widespread Science.
If any shopper safety PSA has resonated with “the Children” in recent times, it’s largely due to Galbo. Since 2016, the federal worker has overseen one of many strangest and most entertaining outreach messaging campaigns in fashionable US regulatory historical past. By means of a mixture of absurdist web memes, purposefully clunky Photoshop jobs, and a devoted social media presence, to convey a number of the most mundane features of on a regular basis existence: baby security locks, recall alerts, and the significance of commonly changing your smoke detector’s batteries.
“We’ve had a number of success from our social media technique over time, however one of many issues it’s a must to look out for whenever you’re doing one thing efficiently is getting complacent,” says Galbo. “However we predict folks need to see extra than simply the apparent from CPSC. We predict folks need to see innovation, and further effort, and a willingness to do and check out new issues.”
Over 9 months, Galbo, coworkers, musicians, and the CPSC’s public relations accomplice channeled all that power into We’re Security Now Haven’t We: Quantity 1, a five-track EP that includes bass-thundering dancehall, electro-beats, and funk-infused songs about… ATV security, amongst different essential precautions.
“Helmet… Goggles… Boots… Jacket,” a Daft Punk-esque robotic narrator tells listeners on “Offroad Journey.”
“Push the bounds, really feel the joys / however don’t neglect, to maintain it actual”
Then there’s “Shield Ya Noggin’,” a 2-minute-35-second hip-hop throwback centered on that the majority widespread (and sadly chronically ignored) topic of helmets. The observe was really the primary one commissioned by CPSC, and helped dispel any preliminary worries that Galbo’s workforce had bitten off greater than they might chew—one other essential factor to keep away from, by the way in which.
“That was a giant second for everybody as a result of it actually satisfied us that not solely might this concept work, however we had the potential to make some precise bangers,” he mentioned.
Inventive, weird CPSC initiatives like We’re Security Now Haven’t We aren’t a luxurious for Galbo’s workforce– they’re a necessity. The Bureau has by no means had a mountain of discretionary funds, even earlier than the continuing, (arguably illegal) federal price range slash-and-burn devastation.
“We’re a smaller federal company with a restricted price range, we attempt to spend money on artistic belongings that we all know will final,” explains Galbo. “We needed to create an album that will have broad enchantment and never sound instantly dated… songs that sounded present to at the moment, however would additionally nonetheless sound nice 5 or ten years down the highway.”
The technique is paying off already. As a result of whereas We’re Security Now Haven’t We might sound like an early contender for the songs of Summer season 2025, it’s not a brand new launch. It’s from again in 2023. However as any good social media workforce is aware of, you leverage present cultural touchstones to drive house your message—just like the second weekend of California’s large annual Coachella music competition going down April 18-20.
“Generally youngsters want a bit to determine how and after they need to use what you make to have some enjoyable,” says Galbo. “The preliminary success after we launched the album was nice, however we’re actually trying ahead to all of the methods we will use this music within the years to come back.”
Till then, youngsters: Shield ya noggin’. Oh, and about that title? When requested about it, Galbo provides a basic CSPC-branded rationalization.
“We’re Security Now Haven’t We is a play on the everlasting life-saving advantages of being dedicated to security,” he says. “We’re secure now and haven’t we all the time been?”
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