5.1 Fear and guilt

Fear and guilt can attract a significant amount of attention amongst target audiences and can be a powerful motivation to act. As such, they are frequently used in marketing communications campaigns (Witte and Allen, 2000).

Fear and guilt appeals tend to be employed in one of two ways:

• i.by playing on the negative consequences of not using a product or service; or conversely
• ii.by communicating the negative impact or danger associated with a behaviour or practice.