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Fear-Based Advertising Analysis

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“In the first episode of Mad Men (Smoke gets in your eyes) Don Draper outlines the appeal of fear as a tool for selling with chilling clarity. “Advertising is based on one thing: happiness, he calmly tells his clients. And do you know what happiness is? … It's freedom from fear” (Peretti 2014). This observation by Jacques Peretti in a July 2014 article in The Guardian frames the effectiveness of fear-based advertising in our culture. Whether advertisements attack masculinity, femininity, class, race, or other jealously-defended qualities or insecurities, it puts people in a mentality where, not only should they purchase this product or service, but not doing so will cause real or perceived danger. Humans are social creatures, and even adults feel pressured to “fit in.” Fear-based advertising capitalizes on the fear of not fitting in with our race, class, gender, or other groups that people consider part of their identity, and that is what makes it so effective. If one is looking to find good examples of fear-based advertising, the Super Bowl offers a wealth of competing commercials aimed at quickly and effectively poking holes in masculinity. According to the Nielson Company, the 2010 …show more content…

For example, according to a review of tobacco industry documents, menthol cigarettes were and are actively sold to the public has a “healthier” alternative to regular cigarettes (according to the FDA, they may even be worse) (Anderson p. ii20). “Menthol cigarettes are… marketed to specific social and demographic groups, including African-Americans, young people and women, and are perceived by consumers to signal social group belonging” (Anderson p. ii20). And there we arrive at that word again, belonging. Fear-based advertising preys on people's need to blend in with the crowd. That need to belong can be tracked in everything from smoking choices to movie choices (Anderson p. ii20, Moretti p.

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