Saturday, November 6, 2010
Appeal to Fear
Allstate insurance has launched a new campaign of commercials in which a man acts as careless driver or windstorm that knocks down a tree branch and wrecks a car. The point of these commercials is to scare viewers into buying insurance from them because without it you and your car will be susceptible to all the uncontrollable danger in the world. This tactic i better known as an appeal to fear. This appeal is utilized to convince people do something because they are afraid of the consequences if they dont. I personally don’t think it is a good argument because there is no way to control what happens when your out there driving and most people like myself are already insured with quality insurance that can support them if a problem arises. However I do think this commercial is very effective in convincing people without insurance or people with a low insurance plan to upgrade to Allstate insurance that has this new concept of accident forgiveness. I also think whether or not a person decides to change insurance companies the fear presented in this commercial makes drivers overall more conscious of other cars when driving.
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Hey MichSim,
ReplyDeleteI like how you used the example of insurance companies and their campaigns in persuading people to buy insurance for their vehicles by using the appeal to fear. If I were to be a driver without insurance, I would be very paranoid in driving around without coverage. In this case, however, it's not possible since it's required by law to have some type of coverage. In other cases, though, people still drive around with no license, no coverage, no anything. If I was out doing that, passing by the given advertisement that you used as an example would actually strike a little bit of fear, for I would be aware of the consequences of what might happened if I were to get into a wreck with another vehicle, or any other objects on and off road. I think your example is good because insurance companies do indeed like to scare people into buying insurance from their specific company, and the appeal to fear is the best way to get into people's minds.
I like your example here. Lots of times people will not speak up or do what they know is right simply because they are afraid of the consequences. This is seen every day. This happens most often when people don’t speak up about something because they don’t want to be made fun of. Like in middle school, I remember no one supported gay people because then kids would say that they were gay. Stupid things like that just keep people from doing what they want and it is simply because of “fear”. Good post.
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