Appeal to fear

This fallacy has the following argument form:

:Either P or Q is true.

:Q is frightening.

:Therefore, P is true.

The argument is invalid. The appeal to emotion is used in exploiting existing fears to create support for the speaker's proposal, namely P. Also, often the false dilemma fallacy is involved, suggesting Q is the proposed idea's sole alternative.{{Citation|title=Zweiter Beratungsgegenstand: Die Steuerung des Verwaltungshandelns durch Haushaltsrecht und Haushaltskontrolle|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110871104.147|work=Kulturauftrag im staatlichen Gemeinwesen. Die Steuerung des Verwaltungshandelns durch Haushaltsrecht und Haushaltskontrolle|year=1984 |place=Berlin, Boston|publisher=DE GRUYTER|doi=10.1515/9783110871104.147 |isbn=9783110871104 |access-date=2022-02-22|doi-access=free}}

Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) is the appeal to fear in sales or marketing; in which a company disseminates negative (and vague) information on a competitor's product. The term originated to describe misinformation tactics in the computer hardware industry and has since been used more broadly. FUD is "implicit coercion" by "any kind of disinformation used as a competitive weapon."{{cite web |author=Raymond, Eric S |author-link=Eric S. Raymond |url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/F/FUD.html |work=The Jargon File |title=FUD}}{{Unreliable source|date=February 2016}} FUD creates a situation in which buyers are encouraged to purchase by brand, regardless of the relative technical merits. Opponents of certain large computer corporations{{who|date=November 2011}} state that the spreading of fear, uncertainty, and doubt is an unethical marketing technique that these corporations consciously employ.

Fear appeals are often used in marketing and social policy, as a method of persuasion. Fear is an effective tool to change attitudes,{{cite web|url=http://issuu.com/martijnboermans/docs/boermans_2009_-_thesis_fear_appeals|title=ISSUU - Fear Appeals and Persuasion by Martijn Boermans|author=Martijn Boermans|work=Issuu|access-date=17 June 2015}}{{Unreliable source|date=February 2016}} which are moderated by the motivation and ability to process the fear message. Examples of fear appeal include reference to social exclusion, and getting laid-off from one's job,Solomon. Zaichkowsky, Polegato. Consumer Behaviour Pearson, Toronto. 2005 getting cancer from smoking or involvement in car accidents and driving.

Fear appeals are nonmonotonic, meaning that the level of persuasion does not always increase when the claimed danger is increased. A study of public service messages on AIDS found that if the messages were too aggressive or fearful, they were rejected by the subject; a moderate amount of fear is the most effective attitude changer.

Others argue that it is not the level of fear that is decisive changing attitudes via the persuasion process. Rather, as long as a scare-tactics message includes a recommendation to cope with the fear, it can work.{{cite web|url=http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/dissertations/1975035/inhoud.htm|title=How fear appeals work : motivational biases in the processing of fear-arousing health communications|access-date=17 June 2015}}

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• Appeal to emotion
• Appeal to force
• Culture of fear
• Demagogue
• Embrace, extend and extinguish
• Fear appeal
• Fear mongering
• List of fallacies
• Moral panic
• Red Scare
• Scareware
• The terrorists have won

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• [http://www.propagandacritic.com/articles/ct.sa.fear.html Propaganda critic: Fear appeal]

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Fear

Category:Marketing techniques

Category:Fear

Category:Propaganda techniques