To any advertisers out there that might be reading this, please don’t use scare tactics to create ads. Very rarely do I see a fear-based ad that I think is effective. If you want to create an emotional connection with customers, try using a positive emotion. Do you really want customers to associate your brand with fear? Is that the best decision? Is that healthy?
I’ve seen a few fear-based ads that I thought were well done, some of those car commercials about the passengers surviving accidents. These ads were pretty good as individual ads, but could you imagine a successful fear-based campaign? I’m having trouble envisioning one (but that might be because I only got 4 ½ hours of sleep last night).
When I think of fear-based advertising, the first ad that comes to my mind is LBJ’s infamous “Daisy” ad. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the background of this ad, Lyndon Johnson was running against Goldwater (I forgot his first name). This was during the 1964 election, and Cold War tensions were very high. Goldwater had a history of being trigger-happy, so Johnson played off it. The ad was only shown once, then pulled off TV for obvious reasons. Tell me if you think this commercial creates social harm or social good.



Also, check out Dylan’s blog post for an example of fear-based advertising from FedEx. It’s not nearly as severe as the Daisy ad, but it shares a lot of the fundamentals behind it.
http://theemailwars.com/2008/11/14/using-email-to-build-fear/#more-1311 Posted by: Jeff Kempf at 9:05 AM  |  Permalink