Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

I caught yet another one of Mr. Cheney’s rants about how Lieberman’s defeat spells doom and gloom for us. (Partisan perspective aside, isn’t this just plain downright weird?) I seriously doubt terrorists anywhere (including those nice white boy Timothy McVeigh types) are giving each other high fives over this. That said, let’s get to the core of it. This is the same ol’ fear strategy that Cheney, Rove and Company have been using for years. And, yes, it’s worked - a lot of otherwise smart people voted their lizard brain reaction in the last election. (The fact that the Kerry camp appeared to have no strategy certainly didn’t help matters.)

Even if I agreed with Mr. Cheney’s point and politics - from a marketer’s perspective, I’d strongly disagree with his strategy. When you’re playing a one-note tune, it quickly becomes elevator music. People can and do adapt to pretty much anything - it becomes routine and a part of the fabric of everyday life. (Just ask the people living in Chernobyl.)

Here in the real world, outside the beltway and the political blogs, I can’t recall the last time that Homeland Security alerts, terrorist attacks or - ahem - duct tape - have come up in conversation. Even when I’m with my liberal progressive peeps, we may make a passing remark about such - then we roll our eyes and move on to the next topic, such as our gardens or Sandy’s new grandchild. And, frequent travelers generally don’t seem fear-stricken; they’re more concerned about the massive inconvenience.

Here’s another thing - frightened people aren’t rational, which means they may not act as you expect or wish. A terrified dog will bite his beloved owner’s hand. Cows will trample their own calves in stampeding away from a predator. And so on. Yes, we’re supposed to be smarter, but…when we’re thinking with our lizard brains, all bets are off.

So, no. Fear isn’t a good strategy in leadership or marketing.

Tags: Cheney, terrorists, marketing, marketing troubleshooting