Fear appeals are persuasive messages that emphasize the potential danger and harm that will befall individuals if they do not adopt the messages’ recommendations . That is why there are more and more appeals appear in advertising . It aims to convince people to change their behavior and attitudes (e.g., smoking will kill you, speeding increases risk of crashing)
A fear appeal in advertising usually aim to convince people not to using a specific product or doing something danger behavior by presenting the risk or even the potential outcome . advertising confronting pictures and statements on the package of product is one way to present the outcomes of keep on use that product , the most typical example is the advertising confronting pictures and statements on the cigarette packets .
Health warning labels on cigarette or tobacco products is the most effective tool which is used widely and frequently in the world for educating smokers about the health risks of cigarette or tobacco use. However, most of the smoker accepted this kind of warning labels . Research by the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC) shows that smokers want to see more health information on cigarette packages. Data from ITC surveys of smokers from 10 countries in 2006 shows that the percentage of smokers who want to see more information on cigarette packages is greater than the percentage of smokers who want to see less information – even in countries where pictorial warning labels had already been introduced , it proves that Graphic pictures can significantly enhance the effectiveness of warning label .
The images on the cigarette packages might not be the strong strength to convince to quit smoking , that might not be scary enough for some of people , because it is just a image which is easy to ignore , how about the video commercial ?
Speed is the biggest killer on NSW roads, causing about 40 per cent of road deaths each year. Speeding is seen to be more socially acceptable than drink driving, even though it claims many more lives on NSW roads.
these anti-speeding television commercials show the audience a negative consequence that is likely to occur if people engage in a particular behavior, this television commercials is scary , and it tells people the right thing is to slow down which is the significant behavior to avoid this accident , it shows us two total different outcome in two choice . Slowing down is the choice simply and easy to achieve safe . People feel how scary about speeding and get to know what should they do to avoid the negative consequence . Speeding is likely to become a significant thing in people`s concept . The attitudes toward to speed might be changed .
Using fear in advertising is a good way and used widely in the world , it is becoming more and more effective to change attitudes with the development of advertisement. Fear appeals are effective at changing attitudes, intentions and behaviors. People believe what they see more then what they hear .
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