Fear mongering
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Fear mongering (or scaremongering) is the use of fear to influence the opinions and actions of others towards some specific end. The feared object or subject is sometimes exaggerated, and the pattern of fear mongering is usually one of repetition, in order to continuously reinforce the intended effects of this tactic, sometimes in the form of a vicious circle.[citation needed]
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Uses
Political uses
Fear mongering is often used in wartime, as a political tactic to frighten citizens and influence their political views. Fear mongering in the United States surfaced during the era of McCarthyism, when the nation first faced the threat of possible nuclear attack. Since then, politicians and pundits alike have realized and utilized the powerful influential impact that fear can have on voters.[citation needed] Some allege that fear of violent acts of terrorism since the September 11th 2001 attacks were exploited by politicians to maintain their control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate, and Executive branches of the government.[citation needed] Similarly, participants in the debate over man-made global warming have been accused of using tactics of fear-mongering in order to promote their own environmentalist agendas.[1] Those skeptical of man-made causes of global warming assert that although there is still no scientific consensus on the cause or causes of global warming, politicians have resorted to fearmongering in order to sway public sentiment toward governmental and regulatory solutions.[2][3]
Campaign advertisements
Probably the best-known example in American politics is the Daisy television commercial, a famous campaign television advertisement beginning with a little girl standing in a meadow with chirping birds, picking the petals of a daisy while counting each petal slowly. When she reaches "9", an ominous-sounding male voice is then heard counting down a missile launch, and as the girl's eyes turn toward something she sees in the sky, the camera zooms in until her pupil fills the screen, blacking it out. When the countdown reaches zero, the blackness is replaced by the flash and mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion.
As the firestorm rages, a voice-over from Johnson states, "These are the stakes! To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die". Another voice-over then says, "Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home".[4]
Product advertisements
Advertisers have also entered the arena with their discovery that "fear sells". Ad campaigns based on fear, sometimes referred to as "shockvertising", have become more and more popular in recent years. Fear is a strong emotion and it can be manipulated to steer people into making emotional rather than reasoned choices. From car commercials that imply that having fewer airbags will cause your family harm, to disinfectant commercials that show bacteria lurking on every surface, fear-based advertising works.[5] While using fear in ads has generated some negative reactions by the public, there is evidence to show that "shockvertising" is a highly effective persuasion technique, and over the last several years, advertisers have continued to increase their usage of fear in ads in what has been called a "never-ending arms race in the advertising business".[6]
See also
References
- ^ Debra J. Saunders (January 2, 2005). "Fear and Fear Mongering". http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/01/02/EDGFOAIOMI1.DTL. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
- ^ Walter E. Williams (January 25, 2007). "Fearmongering Injures Civil Society". http://www.examiner.com/a-527636~Walter%20E.%20Williams:%20Fearmongering%20injures%20civil%20society.html. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Classic Political Ad: Daisy Girl (1964)". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKs-bTL-pRg. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
- ^ Nedra Weinreich (6.03.2006). "Making Fear-Based Campaigns Work". http://www.social-marketing.com/blog/2006/06/making-fear-based-campaigns-work.html. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
- ^ Barbara Righton (December 18, 2006). "Fear Advertising". http://www.macleans.ca/culture/media/article.jsp?content=20061218_138128_138128. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
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