I disagree on the "its just fiction" point. Jaws was also just fiction but fistered an irrational fear of sharks for decades. Peter Benchly himself regreted the damage caused to the perception of sharks as a result and worked for years to promote shark conservation... Any harm caused by a movie isnt worth it. Facts are important, even to the perceptions of zombies
With the Jaws thing though, can you really fault the writers, producers, director, etc.? I mean they put out a fictional movie to entertain the public. You can't fault them for the public being overly irrational to the point of blatant stupidity. The reality is people are just stupid. I mean look at us, we're the ultimate example of stupidity, we're Jehovah's Witnesses.