Fear trafficking, or scaremongering, is the use of fear to influence people’s actions or thoughts. It is used in advertising and political campaigns, and can be repetitive and manipulative. The effectiveness of fear tactics has led to an increase in their use, even in product sales. Fear culture is often used to describe politicians who use fear for political gain. These tactics rely on people’s emotions rather than rational decision-making.
Also known as scaremongering, fear trafficking is the use of fear to influence other people to take a certain action or think a certain way. For example, some television commercials have been accused of inciting fear by insinuating that potential customers will be attacked or killed if they do not purchase the product in question. Also, political campaigns often use certain scare tactics to win more votes. Many people react negatively to such advertising and campaigning tactics, but some studies show that the tactics are very effective in manipulating viewers. A similar term is fear culture, often used to describe people who use fear to achieve political goals.
Fear manipulation is often repetitive, usually with the person rarely providing new information about the potential threat. For example, it might say, “Our neighbors are planning an attack and we need to be prepared.” This statement and its variations will likely be said again and again throughout the talk and in future talks. The speaker can introduce new information but withhold information that contradicts his theory. To drive the point home, there could be posters or TV commercials featuring a special effects attack and who will die from it, such as young children and the elderly.
The use of fear in commercials has increased due to its effectiveness. Although some people react negatively by speaking out and boycotting the company using the scare tactics, many more are scared into successfully purchasing the product. An example of product sales scare is car dealerships pointing out that older cars have fewer or no airbags, and therefore the owners of these are more likely to be seriously or fatally injured in an accident. Even much less expensive products can satisfy people’s fears, such as home alarm system companies running advertisements showing a man breaking into a young woman’s home. Sometimes the woman is alone, other times she has just finished putting her little ones to bed.
The culture of fear is often used to specifically refer to politicians who fear merchants for political purposes. For example, scaremongering about a potential but unlikely terrorist attack can make citizens more suspicious of foreigners and less likely to oppose acts of war against unrelated countries. In fact, many fear selling tactics abuse the fact that something might happen, yet refuse to disclose how unlikely that event is. Like all fear-selling tactics, politicians rely on people’s strong emotions to keep them from making rational decisions.
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