{"id":27430,"date":"2021-02-24T11:46:37","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T15:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=27430"},"modified":"2025-10-03T11:31:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T15:31:40","slug":"fear-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/fear-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use Fear Marketing in Advertisements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is fear marketing? Does it work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fear marketing is a style of marketing that plays upon negative emotions like fear. This type of marketing appeals<\/a> to humans’ need to reduce vulnerability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more more about fear marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: This article is part of\u00a0Shortform\u2019s guide to storytelling<\/a>. If you like what you read here, there\u2019s plenty more to check out in the guide!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Negative Stakes<\/strong> and Fear Marketing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are only two motivations in life: 1) get something good or 2) avoid something bad<\/strong>, and the last two elements of the SB7 Framework<\/a> address these motivations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sixth of the seven story elements<\/a> is the negative <\/em>stakes\u2014what happens if the character fails <\/em>to act, fails <\/em>to solve the problem, and fails <\/em>to get what she wants? In narrative, the possibility of loss\u2014and the terrible consequences loss comes with\u2014creates suspense and motivates the audience to stay engaged with the story.<\/strong> (Shortform example: In Harry Potter<\/em>, if hero Harry doesn\u2019t defeat villain Voldemort, Voldemort will take over the wizarding world and torture or murder people.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In branding, the possibility of loss\u2014the bad things that will happen to your customer if she doesn\u2019t buy your product\u2014motivates your customer to continue looking for a solution to the problem and a happy ending to her story. <\/strong>(Shortform example: if you sell hand soap and your customer doesn\u2019t buy it, her hands will be filthy and could infect her with diseases.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stakes are important because every moviegoer and customer, when confronted with a story, is always subconsciously asking, \u201cWhy should I care?\u201d and \u201cWhere can this take me?\u201d If there\u2019s nothing at stake, the story is boring, and people tune out. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, we’ll discuss the power of negative stakes. Then, we’ll discuss how to employ them, and how to add them to your brandscript<\/a> using fear marketing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loss Aversion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One type of fear marketing is loss aversion. Interestingly, people aren\u2019t proportionally affected by gains and losses\u2014people dislike losing more than they like winning. For example, a person will be happy if they win $200, but much more unhappy if they lose $200. As a result, negative stakes are a stronger motivator than positive ones, and in some cases, people are two or three times more driven by loss than gain.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, for a long time, George Wallace, the governor of Alabama, resisted the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Lyndon Baines Johnson was able to convince him to stop opposing it by laying out the negative stakes of doing so: If Wallace kept up resistance, he\u2019d go down in history as hateful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(To learn more about loss aversion, read our summary of Daniel Kahneman\u2019s Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em><\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fear Marketing: Use Fear Sparingly<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Fear is an effective motivator and can create a sense of urgency, but its application requires a delicate hand. When people aren\u2019t scared enough, they don\u2019t act.<\/strong> Most brands tend too hard in this direction by not bringing up any negative stakes at all. This makes the story boring and people tune out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, when people are too afraid, they also don\u2019t act<\/strong>\u2014they just ignore everything because it\u2019s overwhelming. Additionally, fearmongering annoys customers, and brands that do it don\u2019t usually succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFear Appeal\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

To effectively use negative stakes in marketing, there is a four-step process that gently brings up a fear and then demonstrates that there\u2019s a way to avoid it coming to pass. Here are the steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Show the customer she\u2019s vulnerable.\n