You're Fat, You're Frumpy, Now Buy My Product
Written on January 14, 2009 by Susan Payton
Have you noticed that a lot of marketing and advertising is geared toward pointing out our flaws?
- Weight loss products
- Hair removal
- Hair growth products
- Makeup
- Exercise equipment
All of these items are marketed to improve the way we look or feel. Marketers use an interesting technique; they make us emotionally vulnerable by pointing out our inadequacies, then showing how they can change those into assets. They play off the fear, uncertainty and doubt we have about ourselves.
I’m not commenting on whether this technique is right or wrong, but I do say it works. We always want to make ourselves thinner, have less hair, have more hair, dress better, et cetera. So in seeing ads like the ones below, we identify with the frumpy, hairy, hairless model, and want to look like the “after” shot. What do you think?
We always say provide value, provide a solution to people’s problems, so:
Supply: solutions
Demand: problems
How do you increase the demand? Well, you create more problems.
So there.
Fear based marketing is perhaps the best type of marketing because it really drives its point home and becomes very well to the prospective buyer…
….hair loss….
….weight loss….
…virus’ on your computer…
it doesn’t really matter…if you can find an angle to **scare** the consumer, then in the very least, they will connect to the message.