An appeal to fear (also called argumentum ad metum or argumentum in terrorem) is a fallacy in which a person attempts to create support for an idea by using deception and propaganda in attempts to increase fear and prejudice toward a competitor. The appeal to fear is common in marketing and politics.
Read more about Appeal To Fear: Logic, Example, Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, As Persuasion
Famous quotes containing the words appeal to, appeal and/or fear:
“I appeal to you, my friends, as mothers: are you willing to enslave your children? You start back with horror and indignation at such a questions. But why, if slavery is not wrong to those upon whom it is imposed?”
—Angelina Grimké (1805–1879)
“The beginning of human knowledge is through the senses, and the fiction writer begins where human perception begins. He appeals through the senses, and you cannot appeal to the senses with abstractions.”
—Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)
“The best thing about Sassy Seats is that grandmothers cannot figure out how they work and are in constant fear of the child’s falling. This often makes them forget to comment on other aspects of the child’s development, like why he is not yet talking or is still wearing diapers. Some grandmothers will spend an entire meal peering beneath the table and saying, “Is that thing steady?” rather than, “Have you had a doctor look at that left hand?””
—Anna Quindlen (20th century)