Psychologists believe fear is hardwired into all mammals, and is the most potent emotion. We evolved fear as a basic survival method. . The brain's fear circuitry resides in a structure called the amygdala: the deepest, most instinctive part of the brain, and because of this it elicits the strongest physical reaction in us. When we confront a perceived danger, our bodies respond with sweating, increased heart rate and high adrenaline levels ("fight or flight") in which the body preparations for combat or to run very far and very fast away from the danger – very useful if you're a caveman suddenly eye to eye with a saber-toothed tiger. This is such a deep set reaction that our brains stop thinking, literally putting all our energy into fueling our reaction (which is why you feel you lose the ability to speak coherely when you've locked into a conflict at work with a boss or colleague: it's your body's reaction to a threatening situation). It's only when the immediate situation is resolved in some way and the threat disappears, that our breathing becomes more measured and we slowly return to normal. Fear makes your body do something without thinking.
Marketers spend their lives trying to find ways to get us to buy their products. When there were only a handful of brands in a category, you could easily persuade shoppers based on a product's attributes. Now that there's an average of 50,000 products in a supermarket, the stakes have been raised, and you have to work harder to convince shoppers.
History has shown us that fear is a powerful motivator, and you can use fear with a Stick or with a Carrot. The Emperors of Rome used the Gods to control the people, who lived in fear that Zeus would send down a lightning bolt down to strike them if they did anything that might dispose him. Some people might argue that fear is the rock on which the Christian church has been built on, but unlike Zeus' thunderbolts (the stick) they created this magical, perfect place that you could go to if you were good enough (the carrot). Christ, as Jacques Seguela, the creator of Euro RSCG, famously said, was probably the first, and most successful, ad man, having created the longest surviving brand and logo.
Politicians have often used Fear Marketing to draw people to the voting booths. President Johnson's landslide victory in 1964 spoke to the increasing fear of nuclear warfare, with his notorious advertising campaign showing a nuclear explosion set against a young girl picking petals off a daisy: "These are the stakes! must die. The stakes are too high for you to stay at home. " Rudy Guiliani promised to stamp out fear; George Bush won a second term by inciting fear in any Middle East country he could name, and he did so well that we got all very, very scared.
Remember Y2K? How many people were driven to buying a new toaster or DVD player thinking that they would spontaneously combust at midnight? How the IT industry raked in the billions of dollars worth of contracts to reprogramme computers just in case entity corporate systems failed.
Fear Marketing capitalises on our desire to keep things as they are to persuade us to buy a certain product or service. Fear Marketing speaks to our inner paranoid, painting vivid pictures of the bad things that are going to happen is you fail to buy their product, as opposed to the good things that might happen if you do. It plays on what we most fear at a deep the deepest emotional level (death, loneliness, rejection, pain, loss), and then it offers a way to avoid what you most dread. And Fear Marketing has been proven to work. OnStar, which provides in-vehicle security in the US, doubled its members in two years compared to its competitor's 4% increase, after it ran a campaign with an actual recording of a little girl saying: "We've just had an accident and my Mom is not moving. Please help! " So parents began thinking, what would happen if we had a crash, what if our daughter did not have OnStar?
In this fear-enriched climate, of terrorism, of global economist melt-down and temperature warming, of swine flu, we are seeing an increase in Fear Marketing. If you look around you will find a number of brands capitalizing on and playing to consumers' heightened sense of anxiety. HSBC and Barclays have both bought to communicate how safe your money is in their hands (so not anyone else's), given their credentials of size and age. New insurance products are being developed so that you protect your summer holiday against redundancy. An event company is advertising its conference with a picture of a guy begging on the street with a little sign saying: "I used to be a marketing director, but I was TOO busy to go to the Advertising Week conference day."
But even in other categories you would not expect, you can see elements of Fear Marketing. The Beauty industry invests billions in making us want to buy their products. Look carefully, and you see Fear Marketing messages. Anti-wrinkle creams warn us in subtle way about the consequences of not using their products; the reassuring scientific language has convinced the female population that they need to stay looking young otherwise they'll be passed over by the young, pretty thing next to them. You're only 'worth it' if you look like you've never since since 25, and if you worship St L'Oreal you will avoid the purgatory of ugliness.
Clearasil plays to a teenager's fear of being ostracized by his peers for his spots. Lynx plays to men's fear that they are not actually that attractive (let's be serious, a nice smell is not going to help you, boys!). Fear Marketing in the parenting industry starts during pregnancy with a whole array of products and supplements that play against your fear that you will not be a good mother. And Fear Marketing strategies are being used by a number of food brands that point out that they are not genetically modified, those do not use pesticides, have no artificial ingredients, all of which clearly suggest that everything else that you see on the shelf near DOES.
So, what of those other brands that do not use Fear Marketing? Why is it that most brands only use happy, smiling people? Thinking about three of the happiest brands around, could they benefit from a little extra help from the Fear Marketing strategies? Innocent has revised its profit projections for this year. Could they sell more smoothies if they showed someone tired, run-down, disease-ridden, couch potatoes? Could Disney drive more people to their resorts by showing you the years of resentment that your children will no doubt bear towards you that you were never a good parent? And what about Weight Watchers? Instead of a newly slim 30 year-old trying on her favorite dress to go out to a party, you see her fat and alone on the sofa, eating crisps?
Now that you have been warned, be scared, be very scared. Unless you are obviously a marketer … and still in your job. A few things might have happened when you were reading this article. Check your email. Bad news travel fast.
