White House resorts to Biden gifs, BuzzFeed to sell you on ObamaCare

White House/Flickr

White House resorts to Biden gifs, BuzzFeed to sell you on ObamaCare
(Image credit: White House/Flickr)

OMG LOL WTF? That may be your first thought when you head over to BuzzFeed and notice this odd post from the viral site's latest community member, the White House. Yes, with only days to go before the end-of-month deadline to obtain insurance or face a fine, the Obama administration is launching a full court press — with gifs — to encourage you to get covered in time.

The decision to advertise with humor on a popular website may seem puzzling, but it's actually a pretty smart idea. ObamaCare needs a big pool of young enrollees, and pitching the law this way almost guarantees it will get plenty of visibility among that demographic. As President Obama's recent appearance on Between Two Ferns showed, humor and viral marketing can be very effective tools to generate buzz and boost enrollments.

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.