Anti-Drug Commercial

Fear is one of the most familiar emotions that one experiences and one of the most popular tactics in persuasion. Appeals to the emotion fear have been one of the most researched issues in persuasion for good reason. Sometimes fear tactics can backfire like in this Anti-Drug commercial. The message of not doing cocaine is so powerful that the actor rips open his scalp, grabs a couple pieces of his brain and snorts it as if he were doing coke. This was so gruesome that I did not want to watch the whole thing (even though I did). I felt that this Anti-Drug commercial was too strong to stomach, inappropriate, and just simply unbelievable. In most uses of fear appeals, the persuader must first convince persuades of the probability of the threat before offering a means. I was not convinced that doing cocaine is just like ripping open your scalp and snorting your brain. The fear appeal was not tactfully used in this commercial therefore weakening its persuasion ability.