In advertisements dedicated to the fight against using a mat, several effects of intense fear are effectively utilized. The use of human fears in advertising is effective since fear is a stress stimulator and a reaction to everything that can threaten human life. This is why fear-based messages are used in advertising: people will want to avoid the threat posed by a particular product. It is possible to assume that advertising warnings about the dangers of drug use cannot be soft and unobtrusive (Gunn, 2020). There is no better way to make people pay attention to something than to instill terror in them.
This ad uses several types of appeals to fear, such as physical harm and social disapproval. Probably, it is the danger to relatives and family that will resonate with the target audience of young viewers. The family is one of the essential components of human life. Young people value their family members, feel strong emotions and affection towards them, and therefore, when they see what drug use can lead to, they will want to avoid it. The advertisement clearly shows how much the families of drug addicts suffer and how cruelly drug-addicted children behave towards their parents (Ooph, 2009). Probably, the young audience will be most impressed by how much they can harm their loved ones if they start taking drugs.
It is possible to think of another example of advertising where the call to fear is used highly effectively. It was an advertisement about the harmfulness of smoking, where human lungs gradually turned into a muddy green slush. The person in the ad coughed terribly, constantly choked, but continued to smoke, not paying attention to anything around. The ad came out disgusting, but the main idea was conveyed to the audience qualitatively – smoking is harmful to health.
Reference
Gunn, J. (2020). Speech Craft (2nd ed.). Macmillan Higher Education.
Ooph. (2009). Meth project ads. [Video]. YouTube. Web.