Advertising
People want to stay out of harm's way, to steer clear of trouble, to stay away from situations which are potentially dangerous, unpleasant, or inconvenient. Caution in advance -- precaution -- is a reasonable attitude in many situations because life has genuine dangers and real problems: "Praemunitas, praemonitas." (Forewarned is forearmed). Here, scare-and-sell advertising is used to describe ads in both the categories of prevention (avoid the "bad") and relief ("get rid of the bad") because both use a common problem/solution pattern. Key Verbs in Prevention appeals: avoid, block, deny, don't let, exclude, keep out, prevent, prohibit, prepare, resist, retard, shut out, slow down. Products and services related to our seeking such "prevention" benefits to avoid a future harm include:
Political Rhetoric In political persuasion, (as well as in "Cause" propaganda and some religious rhetoric) intensifying the threat of a future "bad" is common. Essentially, this is conservative rhetoric. Although closely related to protection appeals ("keep the good"), prevention is future oriented ("avoid the bad"), to prevent future problems from happening. Whether saving the nation from an enemy, or saving souls from hellfire, or saving animals from extinction, persuaders know that the greater the threat, the greater the need for a remedy. Common "warning" metaphors used by persuaders to increase anxiety when the threat doesn't seem so bad to the audience: tip of the iceberg, slippery slope, foot in the door, time-bomb ticking, snowball effect, dominoes falling, lit fuse, internal rot, waiting in ambush. Human fears are predictable. Human fears are predictable.
Persuaders know this. Of the many possible bad things --
the threats -- which people fear, and of the many ways of categorizing
them, here's a brief list (Death and Destruction, Invasion, Restriction,
Dominance, Injustice, Chaos, Damnation) summed up in one sentence: Death and Destruction: The feared threat in this broad category includes any physical harm or loss to the person or possessions. Commonly, people fear the active violence of war (bombing, shooting, terrorist attacks); but, lethal dangers are also present in famine, disease, radiation, water and air pollution. In domestic political rhetoric, this "death and destruction" theme relates to "crime in the streets" imagery, any fears of attacks against persons (assault, robbery, rape) or property (theft, arson, vandalism, looting). Invasion: The feared threat is the loss of territory or space to another. Most people have a strong territorial sense of possession or ownership of the area around them, ranging from close personal space ("My room... my house... my seat... my place in line... my parking space...") extending outward to their region (neighborhood, hometown, state) to the often artificial boundaries of a nation. Border wars, disputed boundaries, and conflicting claims of land ownership are common. In addition to border conflicts, invasion fears also occur when new people or "outsiders" enter an area, as in immigration issues or racial integration: "There goes the neighborhood!" Such xenophobia has long existed in the past, and is likely to increase in the future as more people compete for less available land. Restriction: The feared threat is restraint on our freedom: ranging, at one extreme, from slavery and imprisonment; at the other extreme, to any restriction, any limit, any law, imposed by society. In international politics during the Cold War, the imagery of slavery (Iron Curtain, Berlin Wall, Gulag Archipelago) was common used by those who saw themselves in the "Free World." Libertarians and "Free Enterprise" advocates often use intense slavery imagery to equate any laws or regulations with oppressive bondage. Dominance: The feared threat is dominance by, or submission to, a stronger Other. We don't fear the weak. Dominance and submission are relative relationships; often, there's a hierarchy, or "pecking order." Degree varies from an absolute domination to a relative co-existence. People differ in their standards of feeling dominated or "humiliated": some people take affront at the slightest insult, others don't react. The kinds of dominance vary: physical strength, social status, "moral" dominance. Power, like money, may be a common denominator, or a means to all other ends. Injustice: The feared threat is that someone else has more, or something better, undeservedly, or that someone is trying to take away our "fair share." In a world of obviously unequal distribution of benefits (money, talent, possessions, skills, health, beauty), there is also a widespread human desire for justice. Everyone seeks, or defends, their own "fair share." The Haves seek to keep the existing order; the Have-Nots seek to change it. When the Haves are challenged that they have more benefits in one category (e.g. money), they respond with a Justice argument that they deserve it because of another related category: they worked harder, or longer; or have more skill, more experience, and so on. Injustice threats always involve degree (more good or less bad) which people seek to preserve or to change for their own benefit. Chaos: The feared threat is any breakdown of a humanly made social system which can affect our well-being. Chaos, here, will be used to suggest both anarchy and any systemic flaws of social, political, or economic systems. The threat may be direct and tangible (such as traffic gridlocks, massive power outages) or the threat may be indirect and intangible (such as inflation, bank failures, devaluation of currency). But, in both cases, the harmful effects are real and felt. In political campaigns, the incumbents stress how well the systems work; the opposition party charges that the system should work better, and that there should be change, reform. |
