Fear Appeal Persuasion

The message characteristic: fear, can be defined as a tactic used to invoke fear in someone to deter them from using or doing something (product, decision, or behavior). Businessman, politicians, advertisers, marketing, activist, and others, often use fear as a way to convey their message. An example of this would be when pro-life activists picket outside of an abortion clinic with signs and posters with images of aborted fetuses. The purpose of these protesters is to use the images to scare women out of going through with an abortion. James B. Stiff and Paul A. Mongeau (2003), compiled large quantities of literature on persuasion to create a book entitled Persuasion Communication. In their book they define fear appeal in two distinct manners;

Second they use Leventhal’s definition from 1970 who defines fear appeal as incorporating gruesome content

In high school there’s a program called the mock disaster. The mock disaster is a staged scenario intended to deter drinking and driving. A committee forms and certain students including myself are chosen to be involved in the “accident.” We bring in two cars from a junk yard and set them up to look as though an accident happened which includes smashing them with sledge hammers. The day of the mock disaster all students involved in the accident come in early and go straight in for makeup to look like we have been in a car accident this also ensures none of our classmates see us before the “mock disaster”. All of the students involved in the accident head outside and get situated in the cars that have been smashed to pieces. Some students are laying on the hood of the car while others are still inside the car covered in glass or trapped. The rest of the junior and senior classes come outside and the scenario plays out in front of them as

The mock disaster invokes an emotional reaction using fear of what could happen if you drink and drive to persuade students not to do it. The mock disaster utilizes the fear appeal by having a relatable situation unfold in front of their eyes that is gory, can be perceived as threatening, and attaches a foreseeable negative outcome to their behavior. The mock disaster invokes enough fear to deter students from this negative outcome, but not so much that the message is not received. A car accident involving friends and fellow classmates could have quite an impact on students leaving vivid images in their minds of the scene. The message characteristic vividness would play an important role in how much students remember from this day. Using the identifiable victim effect also makes the message more powerful. Having a real person who is your friend or classmate standing in front of you bruised, bloody, or dead leaves a memorable impression. The identifiable victim effect is found to be much more memorable than rattling off statistics of drunk driving accidents. Finally, the age of the audience which was mostly students ages 16-19 will greatly affect how persuaded they are. As the textbook mentions, younger people are more easily persuaded by such messages than older populations. Aligning the fear appeal, vividness