Hope Sells – and Fear Sells Too!

I enjoyed reading John’s post I Don’t Believe In The Big Bad Swine Flu on Business Opportunities and Ideas yesterday, because ever since shortly after the Swine Flu pandemic was first mooted in the news I have been convinced the whole thing has been overplayed.

In the above mentioned article John cites the Fox News article “H1N1 Flu Is a False Pandemic, Health Expert Claims” which (among other things) states:

A leading health expert said the swine flu scare was a “false pandemic” led by drug companies that stood to make billions from vaccines, The Sun reported Monday

John also cites a few other similar reports and goes on to say:

So next time someone is trying to sell something to you, be that an idea like swine flu or a hope like rapid healthy weight loss or that business opportunity that’ll make you rich in just 21 days ask yourself, what’s in it for them?

And then he goes on to say:

Remember fear and/or hope sells

Anyway, why am I pointing out these things that other people have written? Well, I think there’s something that got missed by John and all the articles he cites in his article: newspapers are businesses too, and they need to sell copies of their publication to make money! Think back to when the pandemic was first talked about: the news had been dominated by wars and by the financial crisis. Therefore, when the prospect of a pandemic happening not just close to home, but actually at home, was mentioned it was obviously a good thing. Remember fear and/or hope sells.

I don’t blame the press for jumping on this bandwagon, by the way. The problem is with their readership. It is because far to many people believe what they read in the press without question, that fear and/or hope sells.