Fear Appeal

What is Fear Appeal?

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Fear appeal is a type of persuasion that targets people's insecurities and survival instincts. Fear appeal is usually used to deter recipients of a message from acting or thinking in a certain way, instead of trying to incite a certain behavior or thought process.

Who Uses Fear Appeal,

and

For What Purpose?

Fear appeal is often used by politicians to discourage votes for their opponents. This tactic is used in place of a strong argument by a politician in favor of him/herself. Political fear appeals often turn into flame wars, where the candidates stress their opponents' faults instead of their own strengths.

Humanitarian organizations also use fear tactics. They may try to prevent consumers from drinking and driving, having unprotected sex, or misusing drugs. These organizations often back up their fear appeals with statistics or facts about the dangers of certain behaviors, or introduce a catchy slogans to make their organization or appeal more memorable. You can probably notice when fear tactics are being used by politicians, groups like MADD*, and most religions*.