Evaluating the Effect of the Fear Appeal in Advertising: Implications for Information Operation Campaigns
ABSTRACT
Assuming the use of the fear appeal is dominant in Information Operations (IO), to undermine the will of the adversary, this paper critically evaluates five decades of research in marketing communications on the effectiveness of fear appeals. An attempt is made to determine how these findings might relate to the IO context, given the special circumstances of these campaigns. A discussion of how market research might be used to determine the effectiveness of fear appeals used in IO campaigns follows, given the special contexts in which they are undertaken (for example, Afghanistan). Implications for how practitioners apply and modify marketing research techniques are also discussed.
AUTHORS
Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University
United Kingdom
Paul Baines is Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Cranfield School of Management and Course Director, MSc Strategic Marketing. Paul is currently Managing Editor, Europe of the Journal of Political Marketing. He is author/co-author of more than eighty published articles, book chapters and books on mainly political marketing issues. Most recently, he published, with Chris Fill and Kelly Page, ‘Marketing’ (Oxford University Press, 2008). Paul has undertaken consultancy assignments in marketing research and strategic marketing for a variety of public, private and charitable sector organisations through his own consultancy, Baines Associates Limited.
Published In
Journal of Information Warfare
The definitive publication for the best and latest research and analysis on information warfare, information operations, and cyber crime. Available in traditional hard copy or online.
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