The Didactic Efficacy of Fear
The environment, sleep disorders, terrorism, leaps in gas prices, disappearing bees… have you ever noticed how easy it is to teach someone about something once you’ve scared the crap out of them first?
Every night, we are informed of some new disease that is lurking out there to steal our sleep, hair, erections, ability to breathe. Then we’re shown a “miracle drug” that will fix us and make the world right again. (Though in some cases use of this drug has resulted in diarrhea, uncontrollable defecation, bleeding from the eyes, American Idol voting…)
Is manufacturing something to be afraid of a smart marketing tactic?
What happens if generating fear becomes de rigueur? Won’t that make it difficult to warn people of something that really is threatening them?
Or does it not matter what happens to society, as long as we can generate some sales right now?
The use of fear has ever steadily been the driving motivator behind television news for the past 10-15 years. The local news used to inform people about the happenings of their community and the goings on in the world around us. But now, local news promos on television and radio have made it so that if you do not watch tonight’s telecast, you will die from some, until now, unknown killer living in your neighborhood/kitchen/water/public place/etc.
It is unbelievable how many of those news teasers and promos say something along the lines of … “Have you ever gone outside? It could be causing your brain to melt. If you don’t want your brain to melt, you need to know what channel X is going to show you … tonight at 10.”
Great, now I cant go outside until the 10 o’clock news, so I know why my brain is melting. I blame the local news for pretty much all ills. These are our gatekeepers people
- Brian Alig
Is manufacturing something to be afraid of a smart marketing tactic?
I think some may find it to be smart, but it’s certainly not ethical if there is no real cause for concern. As a long term strategy, I don’t think it works very well unless there is some validity to the trepidation and the solution proposed actually works.
What happens if generating fear becomes de rigueur? Won’t that make it difficult to warn people of something that really is threatening them?
I think you can see the “boy who cried wolf” effect with the evening news today. 90% of what they report on is either heartbreaking or horrifying. At some point, some of us just either stop watching listening or just become desensitized to the reports. “Gas prices to hit record lows this summer? Another hit and run accident? A brand new meth house discovered 3 miles from where you live? Hmm… sounds par for the course. Oh well.”
If the majority of marketers begin to use fear tactics, their effect will become minimal in good time.
Or does it not matter what happens to society, as long as we can generate some sales right now?
- Hell no. Of course it matters. Our priorities as marketers should be: Carefully choose the right people and organizations to work with,
- Aim to solve legitimate problems or meet needs that improve the lives of others and truly believe in what we are selling,
- Work smart to accomplish the goal(s), and
- Manage to turn a profit. If the first three items are taken care of, the fourth usually comes naturally.
- Chris Sietsema
My parents tell stories of growing up climbing trees, digging in the dirt, and sharing a soda with a friend with no fear of what the possible dangers could be. I can remember growing up being able to go to the neighborhood park and swimming pool without my parents shadowing me every step of the way with a bottle of SPF in one hand and a cell phone ready to dial emergency services in the other.
Flash forward a few years and the overwhelming fear of germs, disease, and some kind of vague “terrible accident” has, in my opinion, stolen kids’ opportunities to enjoy the kind of innocent childhood we remember. There are bottles of anti-bacterial gel to kill the vile germs that lurk in wait to strike us down with some unmentionable disease on every surface, there are fences around the trees, and portable single portion size packages of medicine in case Jimmy gets a little sniffle at the playground.
In our effort to “protect” ourselves and our children from all the scary things in the world are we forgetting just to live, to enjoy every moment without the constant worry and fear of what “could” happen? Those same dangers have existed for nearly every generation
before ours-they didn’t worry about or in some cases even know about the terrible things we fear so much today and yet they survived just the same. As a matter of fact, the number of people suffering from stress and heart-related medical problems has drastically increased in the last few years. Shouldn’t it be about the quality of your life-how are you contributing positively to that when you’re so preoccupied with what the next “epidemic” or tragedy will be? I don’t carry antibiotic gel or individual serving size packages of medicine in my purse. My kids climb trees, dig in the dirt, and have been known to swallow some less-than-appetizing things on more than one occasion. They get bumps on their heads and scrapes on their knees, and I couldn’t be happier for them. I see other parents who are so afraid now of what the world will do to their precious children, they’re hardly allowed outside the house and a bump on the head warrants a trip to the emergency room for fear of a concussion. What kinds of adults will those children be when they’re taught to fear anything that’s not safety-proofed or sterilized?Live a little! Get dirty! And I challenge you-get rid of the sanitizers and anti-bacterial nonsense. You’ve lived without them before, and I’m fairly certain you’ll be able to do so again without any fatal consequences.
- Vanessa Geary
I do believe the media instills a lot of fear in people for ratings, and make a mountain out a molehill A LOT. Whenever I see a “Tonight at Ten…” I listen to hear what it will about, and some “scares” are legitimate, like scammers and such. But telling me the “Top ten reasons to fear Safeway..” does make me scared to go into the grocery store. I base it on my previous experiences, and I’ve never had an issue with Safeway.
If there is a legitimate issue, then scaring people should get them to act, like the environment and global warming. In recent years, people have been more aware of their surroundings and even doing little things like recycling more. But, there is too much scare going on in the news and “special reports” that messages are getting diluted and people aren’t paying as much attention to them. Can’t the news just say, “we have nothing to scare you with, but you may want to know more about this issue?” instead of “What you need to know about your favorite restaurant before you step foot in there again…the health food issues,” then I may actually watch the evening news. The scare tactics do not get to me anymore, because if I believed it all I would be living in a padded cell where NOTHING could get to me.
And companies should always be looking at the LONG TERM, not the short term.
- Ellen Stevens
