Marketing That Preys on Fear

A lot of people are afraid these days. The reasons are many and real.

Car jackers and road rage are just a few of the things people fear and for good reason. Not a day goes by that someone or maybe several folks are victims of these crimes.
Home Invasions are on the rise, burglars want to take your property bought with your hard earned money and the list goes on and on.
The economy is in the dumper and people are fearful of losing their jobs. Easy credit is now gone and thanks to some really greedy brokers/lenders and some really dumb folks who knew they couldn't afford that expensive new house, the Nation is experiencing a mortgage meltdown and folks are losing their homes. The stock market is in yo yo mode and people are afraid of losing the value in their 401 k funds and other investments. (They have a right to be nervous.)

Health care and medical insurance is way too expensive. If you are lucky enough to have it and there are a lot of folks who don't, your co-payments are higher and the cost of prescription drugs is out of sight.

Enter the fear mongers. Everyday my mailbox is full of this stuff. (Snail mail spam) These are the folks who advertise they can save you by preying on our irrational and sometimes justified fears! They can tell you how to protect your investments, how to play the stock market, which stocks to buy, how to beat the IRS, yada, yada, yada.
They can tell you how to beat cancer and other awful diseases. They can tell you the 'secrets' that will keep you from growing old and keep you looking young.

They will tell you all of their secrets, but not for free. You can buy their expensive (and useless) books! Subscribe to their newsletters! (Not free!) When you receive the books and/or newsletters, read them very carefully. Do they deliver on their promise to give you all those secrets?

Right. The secrets are mostly stuff you should have learned a long time ago, or else the advice given is so ridiculous as to be downright scary!

Along with your paid newsletter subscription will come a lot of other 'free' advice. Just order this stuff and you will really be 'safe'. The only folks really benefiting from all of this extra stuff will be the fear mongers selling it.

The next time you see an offer from someone selling this stuff, read it with a skeptical eye. Do you see any of these phrases? Free Reports! (They aren't free if you have to buy something else to get them.) Super Health Cures! Lose weight fast! Free Cash! Invest with no risk! On and on go the big headlines promising miracles for money, life and who knows what else.

If there really were cures for cancer and diabetes it would be wonderful. It would be all over the news, now wouldn't it? I am rather skeptical about trusting the drug companies, but I don't believe they are hiding cures because they are 'free'. I don't believe the oil companies hid, paid off, or killed to prevent the wonderful invention that got a hundred miles to the gallon from seeing the light of day.

If I were you, I'd throw that stuff where it belongs, in the recycle tub to place on the curb. Tell the fear mongers where to go.

Martha