In the recent years, the media has gained a power to create a “culture of fear” in the society. Predominantly, the media uses this power for its own gains, usually, to make more profit. An example of one of these gains would be that the media, namely advertisers, can sell products easily to consumers because the fear caused by the advertisements, makes consumers more inclined to believe in the claims made in the advertisements. Essentially, the media is promoting consumerism by inducing fear into people. Additionally, media groups can also profit from this power by increasing viewership or readership through mainly reporting or showing sensational stories such as murders or rapes. These stories, create a fear in the society, which compels people to watch or read about it more. However, the media is not solely exploiting this power because it also uses it to raise awareness of public issues in the society such as dangers of smoking or driving under influence. Using fear in these types of advertisements has a greater effect on its audience, which would likely dissuade people from carrying out those activities. The media clearly has the power to generate fear in people. Although there is some benefit for the society, this power is primarily used for the media’s gains.
Firstly, the media takes advantage of the influence of fear it has on people by promoting consumerism. A perfect example of this would be the commercials, which deliberately scare people into thinking the assertions, are true. Volkswagen uses representation of real car crashes to promote the safety feature of its cars. “In the 30-second spots, unsuspecting passengers, played by stunt people, are side-swiped, cut off and sent flailing around in their seats like crash-test dummies” (Righton). The idea behind this advertisement is to make people feel insecure about their own cars, as they might have not seen its performance in a crash, and believe Volkswagen cars are much safer. Moreover, the brand...