"Fear of Apples"

"At the farmer's market the other day, not one but three people (perfect strangers) asked me what sort of apple to buy. What do I look like, some sort of apple expert? Apparently.

In our industrialized world, people are now afraid of apples. Afraid of buying the wrong kind. Afraid of making a purchasing mistake or some sort of pie mistake.

And they're afraid of your product and your service. Whatever you sell, there are two big reasons people aren't buying it:

1. They don't know about it.

2. They're afraid of it.

If you can get over those two, then you get the chance to prove that they need it and it's a good value. But as long as people are afraid of what you sell, you're stuck.

People are afraid of tax accountants, iPods, chiropractors, non-profits, insurance brokers and fancy hotels. They're afraid of anything with too many choices, too many opportunities to look foolish or to waste time or money.

Hey, they're even afraid of apples."

-Seth Godin

We are so motivated by fear in our lives. There are two types of marketing; those motivated by fear and those that aren't. So many advertisements and marketing campaigns play on people's anxieties, or make people aware of anxieties they didn't even know they had! This brings up a whole host of ethical questions. Is it right to motivate fear to sell products? How far is too far when marketers alleviate fears? (i.e. can you alleviate fears to such an extent that you eliminate the normal, essential fears that keep us alive?)

I don't have an answer for these questions, but it's something for us, as residents of the 21st century to consider.

via Seth Godin