The first quarter of 2020 has been rough to begin the new decade, to say the least. We first almost started World War III and Australian unfortunately is fighting for its life due to deadly wildfires. For the last few weeks, the life-altering news story has been the Coronavirus outbreak. The deadly virus has inflected large swaths of people and took the lives of an unlucky few scattered all of the worlds. The news coverage of this event has been borderline frightening at times. But, for the media companies that is a good thing. Here are my thoughts on how the media is playing a role in the exploitation of this nasty virus.
Coronavirus is Scary and The Media Knows It
One of the better ways for anyone to go out and market a product is to associate an emotion with that product. Think about the last time you went to a restaurant and had a meal you enjoyed. That must of been a pleasurable experience that you would most likely tell your friends about and engage in again.
Fear is also an emotion that sells. Most organisms in this world are built with an internal mechanism that triggers fear as a response when you are in a situation where the preservation of life comes into question. We tend to act over the top or make impulse decisions when fear is in mind and media marketers understand that.
These news media companies are tapping into your emotions. They are constantly bombarding you with quantitative figures such as the number of people infected or deaths and letting your imagination run with it. In Nassau County on Long Island, the CDC released information that 83 individuals have put themselves into voluntary quarantine. What does that even mean? Do these people have coronavirus? Could they just be confusing the virus with the common cold or simply the flu? You don’t know. But I am sure that people of Long Island will keep tuning in to the local news to see if that number rises.
Another interesting fact is the number count. Paul Virzi on the Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast (totally credible source btw, lol) brought up this point. There are only 104 cases of Coronavirus here in the United States. Out of 315 million people that call the USA home, odds are in your favor that you won’t get the virus. There are 32 million cases of the flu every year in the United States. You have a better chance of contracting the common flu. The media is scaring you in order for you to become consumers.
Coronavirus Fear is Creating Avenues for Profit
It would be interesting to see which news outlets are working for which companies. News channels have manufactured the fear that is forcing people to avoid travel and stay inside. Companies now understand where their target demographic most likely is and what they’ll probably be doing.
I can picture business streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu are bombarding people with ads telling them to purchase subscriptions. Capitalism is a “dog eat dog” form of business. Companies have to take desperate measures to meet the bottom line, including taking advantage of people during a turbulent time.
Everyone is Suddenly an Expert on Coronavirus
It’s strange to me when something bad happens and the next thing you see on CNN is an expert babbling on, giving their insight into a situation. People just love to be informed. They enjoy drawing their own conclusions.
People can create 1000 reasons to speculate why the sky is blue. Luckily, we live in an age where any Joe Schmo can go on, write an article that can be eaten up by anybody (like what I am doing right now). People are using search engines to find information about the Coronavirus and website owners are optimizing their content and landing pages to rank for this keyword (guilty as charged).
I wonder how many Coronavirus experts have come out of the woodworks and given their insight on CNN about this virus. I am sure that the real experts on Coronavirus are the doctors and researchers on the frontlines trying to create a cure for this pandemic. These are the silent professionals. Those experts you see on CNBC are just trying to scare you.
Conclusion
The Coronavirus has been a terrible thing event these last few weeks. Before you beginning hoarding bread and milk (why?), just take a second and think about who is selling you this information, why they are, and how are they benefitting. Everyone, please wash their hands and if you are sick, stay home!
Be sure to check out my last blog article about finishing your opportunity.
