The psychology of fear
So, let’s dig deeper into what fear is.
Fear is an emotional response to perceived threats, evolved over time as our survival instinct. In consumer psychology, fear can result in anxiety about making the wrong decisions, fear of missing out (FOMO) or safety concerns. When used correctly and ethically, fear taps into our primal instincts that instantiate urgency, which activates our flight-or-fight response. This response motivates the consumer to act to reduce or eliminate that feeling. This powerful emotion can evoke strong feelings, increase viewer attention, and create a stronger memory of the campaign, leading to a higher likelihood of consumers taking the desired action.
Now we know what fear is, we can break it down further into marketing techniques of loss aversion and social fear.
1) Loss aversion
Loss aversion can affect decision making as consumers feel potential losses harder than if they were to gain something of equal value.(2) Marketers tap into this by positioning their product or offers as something consumers can’t afford to miss, as not buying it means losing out.
Here’s some tasty campaign examples to get your teeth into
Fanta fever
Fanta’s “They’re back. And they Wanta Fanta” achieved this through limited-edition cans featuring horror icons such as Chucky and M3GAN, a new limited flavour and a time-sensitive tagline, “Grab The Limited-Edition Fanta Collection before they do”. Together this creative cast a powerful spell on consumers. Helping create a sense of FOMO and urgency for the overall campaign.
It also included additional exclusive and limited elements, such as their Mobile Website Exclusive and a three-day immersive pop-up in NYC and London named ‘The Haunted Fanta Factory’. Access to this event was limited to people who won the sweepstake and a small number of walk-in slots sold daily, which drove consumers wild with the event’s positioning of rarity, amplifying the campaigns desirability.
Treat and treat
Similarly, Capri-Sun’s, ‘Impossible To Pierce’ embraced their iconic flaw of being difficult to open, to create a playful limited edition “trick & treat” prank pack.
The pack includes two identical Capri-Suns, one regular and one prank pouch that won’t open. Another exclusive pop-up was Reese’s UK: Scream for Reece’s campaign where they used fear and curiosity through their activation featuring a phonebooth in London, where passers-by were encouraged to answer the phone. When the phone is answered Ghostface instructs them to scream to win a Reece’s bar, then a ghost appears to frighten the user.
These examples show how brands use fear, curiosity, FOMO and interaction to drive engagement and create urgency.
2) Social fear
Marketers use consumers’ fear of social rejection to suggest specific products or services that can help them avoid social embarrassment and fit in. By showcasing what others are doing, buying, or wearing, it can cause individuals to want to join in to avoid feeling left out.
Here’s some spooky campaign examples to bring it to life
The e.l.f. campaign: “Divine Skintervention” used fear effectively by capitalising on the fear of being judged for having imperfect skin, which is a common insecurity among Gen Z. They partnered with comedian Megan Slater who embodied the Devil to tempt consumers to give into their bad skin care habits, such as sleeping in makeup. They then offered a solution by framing their new product, Holy Hydration, as the saviour to our skincare sins. e.l.f. also launched an interactive page where people could “confess” those sins, so e.l.f. could then recommend tailored products. By recognising a common insecurity without exploiting it, e.l.f. created a humorous, relatable and successful campaign that help build their community.
Another example offers a solution to a relatable fear many people have at Halloween - running out of sweets for trick-or-treaters. M&M backed their campaign with statistics highlighting that 78% of US consumers had anxiety about running out of sweets, allowing M&M to position themselves as the “Halloween Rescue Squad”. This campaign focuses on the subtle social pressures that you’re expected to have enough sweets to avoid disappointing the neighbourhood kids. They promised free delivery of emergency sweets within 30 minutes on 31 October, so that homes avoid running out. To accompany this campaign, they released limited-edition Halloween sweets and offered the opportunity to customise the M&M’s. This successful campaign identified a common social anxiety and offered an innovative solution, providing them a great platform to cross-promote their limited-edition Halloween sweets.
How to use fear ethically
While these examples of loss aversion and social fear show how fear can be a powerful tool in advertising, marketers need to use it ethically and responsibly.
As emotions influence consumer decision-making, marketers can use this knowledge to manipulate them for short-term gains, but this can damage trust and brand reputation.
We’ve put together a handy guide to how to use fear well, to elevate a campaign and avoid backlash:
- Ground your message in truth If brands share false or exaggerated information to provoke an emotional response from consumers, they can face serious backlash once consumers recognise that they have been lied to and manipulated. Brands can also lose credibility as their consumers lose trust.
- Always offer a solution Fear is an uncomfortable emotion for a consumer to be left with, so the goal should be to relieve this feeling as fast as possible by offering a solution within the same content. This can be seen from all of the examples discussed above, especially from the ‘M&M’s Halloween rescue squad’ campaign. They highlighted a common anxiety and then offered a genius solution that ultimately gave consumers a feeling of reassurance.
- Protect vulnerable audiences Marketers have a responsibility to understand who their messages might affect the most. Using fear to target vulnerable groups such as kids, elderly people, or individuals struggling with financial or health worries is deeply unethical.
In conclusion
Although marketers use fear year-round, Halloween gives them more freedom to play with this emotion in a more obvious and creative way.
The holiday’s natural association with fear allows brands to lean into this theme without actually scaring away their audiences. Halloween’s seasonal nature is perfect for scarcity tactics such as limited-edition products, countdowns, and pop-up events, all of which have been designed to increase loss aversion and FOMO.
Halloween is one of the biggest social holidays of the year, and it comes with its own set of societal expectations, such as dressing up, handing out sweets, and attending parties. This creates a great foundation for marketers to leverage the social fear, so consumers don’t feel they are being left out of all the Halloween trends.
Campaigns like Fanta’s Haunted Factory, e.l.f.’s Divine Skintervention, and M&M’s Halloween Rescue Squad, demonstrate how fear can be transformed into consumer action when paired with humour, solutions and creativity. Each campaign draws on our human primal instincts. Including FOMO and social anxiety and turns these into positive, solution-focused content.
However, these examples also reveal the ethical tightrope marketers must walk when playing with such a powerful emotion. Fear should never manipulate or exploit, as when used responsibly, fear doesn’t just sell, it can increase emotional resonance and build brand trust. At the end of the day, fear may grab attention, but creativity is what should stand out. Use fear sparingly, stay ethical, and you’ll keep your audience delighted, not distressed.
References
2 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0963721418806510
