A few thoughts in defence of fear
It’s not often I would chime in to promote the benefits of fear over positivity, and I certainly wouldn’t argue that positivity doesn’t have its time and place. However, over the past few days, there has been a lot of negative commentary surrounding the Australian Federal Government’s new Covid Ad Campaign showing a woman struggling to breathe on a ventilator to promote the benefits of mask-wearing, social distancing and when possible, encouraging the public to book a vaccination appointment.
The majority of the commentary suggests that the ad is unnecessarily negative and ‘fear based’ when compared to the positive examples of other government campaigns from around the world. Many of which include things like Celebrity Endorsements, Songs and Promotional Incentives. One prominent commentator even went so far as to suggest that fear-based marketing will not motivate people to take positive action. While fear based marketing may not always be appropriate for every business in every circumstance, and there’s possibly an argument to be had about the impacts on mental health within the community, when it comes to promoting action for public health initiatives, this view could not be more wrong.
Evolutionary psychology shows human beings are hard-wired towards fear; a survival advantage that has kept us alive. It’s clearly better to believe that the rustling in the reeds is a crocodile and not just the wind if you don’t want to end up getting eaten. The latest research also shows that the threat of snakes, spiders and other ‘creepy crawly’ things was such a problem for our ancestor’s survival that it became encoded into our DNA early on in human evolution.
When it comes to the motivational power of avoiding negative outcomes, consider the phenomenon of athletes who train day in and day out to then describe the feeling of winning as a relief from the anxiety of potentially losing. Upon investigation, Nobel Prize winner and renowned Behavioural Economics professor Daniel Kanheman from Princeton University discovered that Loss Aversion Theory shows we actually fear losing up to three times more than we enjoy winning. As marketers often do, Loss Aversion Theory got a fresh makeover, FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) popularised his theory and should of course be employed by marketers when appropriate to achieve better outcomes.
I hate losing. Michael Phelps
Ultimately, the proof will be in the pudding, and this ‘ain’t Australia’s first rodeo’ when it comes to marketing public health initiatives. Take by way of example the Aids awareness campaign of 1987 with the Grim Reaper bowling down everyday Australian families, and the positive impact that had of informing the public and motivating them to take precautions.
The evidence is also clear when it comes to the efficacy of the anti-smoking campaign, spearheaded by ‘plain’ packaging that features fear-inducing labels and imagery that shocked a large proportion of smokers out of complacency and has ultimately accounted for about 25% of the reduction in smoking over the last decade.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/a-decade-on-from-plain-packaging-what-is-the-result-20210709-p588e7.html
In my defence of fear based marketing, let me also tell you what i’m not saying. I’m not saying that fear is appropriate for all brands in all occasions. I’m not saying that positive campaign’s don’t work. I’m not saying that the campaign approaches other countries used including celebrity endorsements, songs and promotional incentives won’t work. What I am saying is that the Australian Government is using an emotive scale that currently ranges between positive, informative and fear based campaigns. These ads are then being deployed strategically to cater to changing circumstances and is likely the best approach to motivate positive action.
