FELDSTED -- The vendors products and services may be inferior, but we are distracted from examining that. It is insidious, but it works
Have you been FUDed? FUD is an acronym for F ear, U ncertainty and D oubt. It is a psychological marketing tool that is used (and misused) to sway our minds from a reasonable alternative, whether that alternative is a competitor or an idea. The appeal is to our emotions not to our intellect. It gained acceptance as a marketing tool in the 1970s. The concept is for a vendor to get potential clients to question the quality of a competitor’s products instead of selling the benefits of his own. It is the reverse of sales based on promoting a vendor’s product and service quality. FUD is the basis of selling us on action to combat climate change. We are told that if we do not act, the planet is doomed, oceans will rise and swallow islands and coastal areas while a million species of plant and animal life will die out. Millions will die in droughts, wildfire infernos, floods, tornadoes and other weather incidents. The object is to instill fear which wi...