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{{redirect2|Fearmonger|Scare tactics|the Doctor Who drama|The Fearmonger|the TV show|Scare Tactics}}
{{short description|Deliberate use of fear-based tactics}}
{{Political campaigning}}
'''Fearmongering''', or '''scaremongering''', is the act of exploiting feelings of fear by using exaggerated rumors of impending danger, usually for personal gain.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scaremonger | title=Definition of SCAREMONGER }}</ref><ref>[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/fearmongering Cambridge Dictionary- Fearmongering]</ref>

==Theory==
According to [[evolutionary anthropology]] and [[evolutionary biology]], humans have a strong impulse to pay attention to danger because awareness of dangers has been important for survival throughout their [[evolution]]ary history. The effect is amplified by [[cultural evolution]] when the [[news media]] cater to people's appetite for news about dangers.<ref name=Shoemaker>{{cite journal| last1=Shoemaker |first1=Pamela J. |title=Hardwired for News: Using Biological and Cultural Evolution to Explain the Surveillance Function |journal=Journal of Communication |date=1996 |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=32–47 |doi=10.1111/j.1460-2466.1996.tb01487.x}}</ref>

The attention of citizens is a fiercely contested resource that [[news media]], [[political campaign]]ers, [[reform movement|social reformers]], [[advertising|advertisers]], [[non-governmental organization|civil society organizations]], [[missionary|missionaries]], and cultural [[event management|event makers]] compete over, according to [[attention economy]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zhu |first1=Jian-Hua |title=Issue competition and attention distraction: A zero-sum theory of agenda-setting |journal=Journalism Quarterly |date=1992 |volume=69 |issue=4 |pages=825–836 |doi=10.1177/107769909206900403|s2cid=144203162}}</ref>

[[Agency (sociology)|Social agents]] of all kinds are often using fearmongering as a tactic in the competition for attention, as illustrated by the examples below.<ref name=Shoemaker /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Altheide |first1=David L. |title=Media Edge: Media Logic and Social Reality |date=2014 |publisher=Peter Lang Publishing |isbn=978-1433126451}}</ref>

Fearmongering can have strong [[psychology|psychological]] effects, which may be intended or [[unintended consequences|unintended]]. One hypothesized effect is [[mean world syndrome]] in which people perceive the world as more dangerous than it really is.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gerbner |first1=G |title=The "mainstreaming" of America: violence profile number 11 |journal=Journal of Communication |date=1980 |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=10–29 |doi=10.1111/j.1460-2466.1980.tb01987.x}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Signorielli |first1=N |editor1-last=Signorielli |editor1-first=N |editor2-last=Morgan |editor2-first=M |title=Cultivation Analysis: New Directions in Media Effects Research |chapter=Television’s Mean and Dangerous World: A Continuation of the Cultural Indicators Perspective| date=1990 |publisher=Sage |pages=85–106}}</ref> Fearmongering can make people fear the wrong things, and use too many resources to avoid rare and unlikely dangers while more probable dangers are ignored. For example, some parents have kept their children at home to prevent [[child abduction|abduction]] while they paid less attention to more common dangers such as [[lifestyle disease]]s or [[traffic accident]]s.<ref name="Glassner">{{cite book |last1=Glassner |first1=B |title=The Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things |date=1999 |publisher=Basic Books}}</ref> Fearmongering can produce a [[rally 'round the flag effect|rally around the flag effect]] by increasing support for the incumbent political leaders. For example, official warnings about the risk of [[terrorist]] attacks have led to increased support for the proposed policies of [[US President]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Willer |first1=R |title=The effects of government-issued terror warnings on presidential approval ratings |journal=Current Research in Social Psychology |date=2004 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=1–12}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Nacos |first1=B. L. |title=Selling Fear: Counterterrorism, the Media, and Public Opinion |date=2011 |publisher=University Of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0226567198}}</ref>

Collective fear is likely to produce an [[authoritarian personality|authoritarian mentality]], desire for a [[strongman (politics)|strong leader]], strict [[discipline]], [[punishment|punitiveness]], [[toleration|intolerance]], [[xenophobia]], and less [[democracy]], according to [[Theory of Regal and Kungic Societal Structures|regality theory]]. Historically, the effect has been exploited by [[political entrepreneur]]s in many countries for purposes such as increasing support for an [[authoritarianism|authoritarian]] government, avoiding [[democratization]], or preparing the population for war.<ref name="Fog">{{cite book |last1=Fog |first1=A |title=Warlike and Peaceful Societies: The Interaction of Genes and Culture |date=2017 |publisher=Open Book Publishers |isbn=978-1783744053 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p845DwAAQBAJ}}</ref>

==Examples==

===Political campaign advertisements===
{{main article|Gevald campaign}}
[[File:Daisy (1964).webm|thumb|250px|left|thumbtime=3|"Daisy" advertisement]]
''[[Daisy (advertisement)|Daisy]]'' is a famous television commercial that aired in 1964 and was run by [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s [[Lyndon B. Johnson 1964 presidential campaign|presidential campaign]]. It begins with a little girl standing in a meadow, birds chirping in the background; she picks and clumsily counts the petals off of a daisy. When she reaches 'nine', an ominous male voice begins a launch countdown. The girl's gaze turns toward the sky and the camera zooms into her eye until her pupil blackens the screen. As the countdown reaches zero, a nuclear explosion flashes on and morphs into a mushroom cloud. While the firestorm rages, Johnson's declares, "These are the stakes! To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die." Another voice then says, "Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home."<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkWAhuXtalw
 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/IkWAhuXtalw |archive-date=2021-12-19 |url-status=live|title=Classic Political Ad: Daisy Girl (1964)
|website=[[YouTube]] |date=26 October 2006 |access-date=25 August 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===Mass media===
Fierce economic [[competition]] is driving commercial [[mass media]] to rely extensively on scary stories and bad news in a competition that has been characterized as an emotional [[arms race]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fuller |first1=J |title=What is happening to news: The information explosion and the crisis in journalism |date=2010 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0226005027}}</ref> Stories about crime, and especially violent crimes and crimes against children, figure prominently among newspaper headlines. An analysis of US newspapers has found that between 10 and 30% of headlines involve crime and fear, with a tendency to a shift of focus from isolated crime events to more thematic articles about fear.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Altheide |first1=D. L. |title=Creating fear: News and the construction of crisis |date=2002 |publisher=Aldine de Gruyter |isbn=978-1138521438}}</ref>
In the United Kingdom, the news media have routinely used a focus on gory sex crimes as a parameter of competition. The continued focus on emotionally touching sex crimes has had a strong influence on politics and legislation in the country.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Greer |first1=C |title=Sex Crime and the Media: Sex Offending and the Press in a Divided Society |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1843920045}}</ref>

===Product advertisements===
[[Advertisers]] have also entered the arena with their discovery that "fear sells". Ad campaigns based on fear, sometimes referred to as [[shockvertising]], have become increasingly popular in recent years. Fear is a strong emotion and it can be [[psychological manipulation|manipulated]] to persuade people into making emotional rather than reasoned choices. From car commercials that imply that having fewer [[airbag]]s will cause the audience's family harm, to [[disinfectant]] commercials that show [[pathogenic bacteria]] lurking on [[mysophobia|every surface]], fear-based advertising works.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.social-marketing.com/post/making-fear-based-campaigns-work |title=Making Fear-Based Campaigns Work |access-date=18 February 2025 |date=3 June 2006 |author=Nedra Weinreich }}</ref> While using fear in ads has generated some negative reactions by the public, there is evidence to show that "shockvertising" is a highly effective [[persuasion]] technique, and over the last several years, advertisers have continued to increase their usage of fear in ads in what has been called a "never-ending arms race in the advertising business".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.macleans.ca/culture/media/article.jsp?content=20061218_138128_138128 |title=Fear Advertising |access-date=15 January 2009 |date=December 18, 2006 |author=Barbara Righton |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070223212619/http://www.macleans.ca/culture/media/article.jsp?content=20061218_138128_138128 |archive-date=23 February 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Author [[Ken Ring (writer)|Ken Ring]] was accused of scaremongering by New Zealand politician [[Nick Smith (New Zealand politician)|Nick Smith]]. The Auckland seller of almanacs made predictions about earthquakes and weather patterns based on lunar cycles, and some of his predictions were taken seriously by some members of the public in connection with the [[February 2011 Christchurch earthquake|2011 earthquakes]] in [[Christchurch]], New Zealand.<ref name = "Smith">{{cite news |title='Reckless' quake claims not helping, says Smith |date=20 March 2011 |publisher=ONE News |url= http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/reckless-quake-claims-not-helping-says-smith-4073216}}</ref>

===Psychological warfare===
Fearmongering is routinely used in [[psychological warfare]] for the purpose of influencing a target population. The tactics often involves defamation of an enemy by means of [[smear campaign]]s. [[False flag]] attacks have been used as a pretext for starting a war in many cases, including the [[Gulf of Tonkin incident]], the [[Shelling of Mainila]], and [[Operation Himmler]]. [[Terrorism]] is also a kind of psychological warfare. It is creating violence and terror in order to get media attention or to scare an enemy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weimann |first1=G |last2=Winn |first2=C |title=The theater of terror: Mass media and international terrorism |date=1994 |publisher=Longman}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Altheide |first1=D. L. |title=Terrorism and the Politics of Fear |date=2006 |publisher=AltaMira Press}}</ref>

A remarkable tactic is the [[strategy of tension]], which is based on making violence and chaos in order to create [[political instability]], to [[defamation|defame]] an opponent, to pave the way for a more [[authoritarianism]] or [[fascist]] government, or to prevent the [[decolonization]] of [[colony|colonies]]. The strategy of tension is associated in particular with the widespread [[political violence]] in the [[Years of Lead (Italy)|Years of Lead]] in the 1960s to 1980s in [[Italy]]. There were many [[terrorist]] attacks in the country in these years, some committed by [[right-wing]] and [[neo-fascist]] groups, and others by [[left-wing]] groups. Some attacks initially attributed to left-wing groups to were suspected or confirmed [[false flag]] attacks. The main purpose of the strategy of tension in Italy was to prevent the [[communists]] from gaining power and to pave the way for a [[neofascist]] government. Historians disagree about who were controlling the strategy of tension, but there is evidence that both national neofascist groups and foreign powers were involved.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ferraresi |first1=F |title=Threats to Democracy: The Radical Right in Italy after the War |date=1996 |publisher=Princeton University Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cento Bull |first1=A |title=Italian Neofascism: The Strategy of Tension and the Politics of Nonreconciliation |date=2007 |publisher=Berghahn Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Willan |first1=P |title=Puppetmasters: The Political use of Terrorism in Italy |date=1991 |publisher=Authors Choice Press}}</ref><ref name="Fog" />

==See also==
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* [[Alarmism]]
* [[Appeal to fear]]
* [[Culture of fear]]
* [[Crowd manipulation]]
* [[Demagogue]]
* [[Emotional blackmail]]
* [[Fake news]]
* [[False flag]]
* [[Fear, uncertainty and doubt]] (FUD)
* [[Fnord]]
* [[Intimidation]]
* [[Missing-children milk carton]]
* [[Moral panic]]
* [[Project Fear]]
* [[Propaganda]]
* [[Red Scare]]
* [[Strategy of tension]]
* [[Summer of the Shark]]
* [[The Shock Doctrine]]
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Wiktionary|fearmongering|fearmonger}}

{{Media manipulation}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fear Mongering}}
[[Category:Advertising]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Crowd psychology]]
[[Category:Fear]]
[[Category:Political campaign techniques]]
[[Category:Propaganda]]