Download Fear Tactics Article - Forest Hills High School

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"The Four-Letter Word In Advertising: Fear"
The scene begins with a mom at the park with her two kids - a little boy named
Kevin and a baby in a stroller. The mother turns her head a few seconds to tend to
the baby, then turns back to find Kevin has disappeared.
Panicked, the woman shouts "Kevin" as she starts searching for her young son. She
grabs her bag, empties its contents and picks up a child locator device that
ultimately guides her to Kevin. The boy is walking happily down a field with a red
balloon in hand.
This scene - which at first has the makings of a horror film - comes from a television
commercial for batteries. The ad dramatically shows how a potentially awful
situation can be avoided with the help of a child locator device and the batteries that
make it work.
Whether it is a child wandering out of his mother's sight, a crash test dummy hitting
a dashboard at 60 miles per hour, or a frying egg representing a brain damaged by
drug use, scare tactics have been used in ads and public service announcements for
decades. And today, consumers are bombarded with ads for products offering
protection from fears ranging from the H1N1 virus (swine flu) to embarrassing body
odor.
The reason fear appeals are used in advertising is simple, says Todd Van Slyke, an
advertising instructor at The Illinois Institute of Art - Schaumburg. Just as sex sells,
fear sells too.
"Fear appeals strike a nerve with people who have doubts about things or do not
know about things," he explains. "They play on our inherent fears of the unknown or
that something is going to kill us. This is why scare tactics are stunningly effective."
According to Harjot Singh, the senior vice president, director of planning at
marketing communications firm Grey Canada, advertising is so persuasive that it can
change how people think and behave. Fear is effective in advertising because it is a
familiar sensation that causes people to respond quickly, Singh says.
"As humans, we are familiar with fear starting when we are young - whether it is
fear of parents, school, government, the law," Singh states. "There are a lot of
familiars out there that tell us to change the way we think and act, or else."
While fear appeals can pull at our heartstrings and motivate us to buy a product or
service, they can also cause negative reactions, experts say.
"Fear may cause people to stop and think momentarily, but in the long run, it may just
cause frustration and actually have the opposite effect of what you had hoped for,"
warns Jennifer Perkins, director of ethnography/consumer insights at Smith
Brothers Agency, a marketing agency in Pittsburgh.
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Advertisers who are trying to emotionally connect with consumers by using fear
must be careful they don't go too far. Sometimes fear is an effective way to motivate
consumers and other times it is not. It depends on the product and the approach,
Perkins says.
"Fear appeals, such as those alerting people to the dangers of drunk driving or
depletion of natural resources, could be effective," she offers. "In these instances, the
public good and the advertiser's interests are congruent."
Singh agrees, adding that advertisers need to also consider their audience before using
scare tactics. "If you are talking to young people, they are high-sensation seekers, so
you need to present a message to them that is in line with that mental makeup," he
says. "If the ad is telling teens not to smoke or do drugs, you may need shock value
to create a sense of urgency with young people who are not yet in touch with their
immortality. But you have to use fear responsibly."
Ethical questions arise when advertisers employ excessive amounts of fear, for
example through graphic depictions of consequences, Perkins says. For example,
baby food companies never need to say "expired baby food can kill your child" when
saying "remember to check the expiration date on your baby's food" gets the
message across just fine.
In some cases, advertisers can take an approach that is more positive than using
fear.
"What works better is to be supportive and help the consumer to find a way to
conquer their challenges, not make them feel they are doing something wrong,"
Perkins offers. "For example, ads for prescription medicine portray people in
hopeless situations and then they provide a solution (the medicine) for their
troubles. It sets up a possible problem, not fear, and offers a way to address it."
Answer the following questions according to the article:
1)How are scare tactics used in commercials?
2)Why are scare tactics in commercials successful?
3)What are two negative effects of scare tactics?