FUD: The Rhetoric of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt

Robert CummingsAssociate Professor

Director, Center for Writing and RhetoricUniversity of Mississippi

FUD: A Definition

FUD is an abbreviation for fear, uncertainty, and doubt.Wikipedia editors recently defined thusly:

“FUD is generally a strategic attempt to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubious or false information. An individual firm, for example, might use FUD to invite unfavorable opinions and speculation about a competitor's product; to increase the general estimation of switching costs among current customers; or to maintain leverage over a current business partner who could potentially become a rival.”(Wikipedia Contributors)

Origins of the term FUD: IT community

Origins of the term FUD:Public Health

Tobacco executives testifying before US Congress in 1998 that nicotine is not addictive. Left to right: Laurence Tisch of Loews, Geoffrey Bible of Philip Morris, Vincent Grier of UST, Steven Goldstone of RJR Nabisco, and Nicholas Brooks of Brown and Williamson.

Origins of the term FUD:Public Health

Photo: Michael Dorausch.

Origins of the term FUD:Public Health

“Reasonable Doubts” published by the cigarette industry:• Why does lung cancer rarely occur on both lungs

simultaneously, when both are exposed equally to smoke?• Why is cancer of the trachea windpipe rare, even though

this part of the body ‘is exposed to all smoke going into and out of the lungs”?

• Why do non-smokers get a kind of lung cancer identical to that of smokers?

• Why do the “vast majority” of smokers not get lung cancer?(Proctor 106, quoting The Cigarette Controversy: Why More Research is Needed, published by the Tobacco Institute)

FUD Shading

• In each context, detractors of FUD will point out its existence. But then they return to advocating their original position.

• In pointing out how FUD violates norms, opponents reveal what they value about their community.

• Few see the fact that FUD is widespread because they see it only in the context of their particular issue.

• Understanding that FUD = moral bankruptcy could improve public response.

Hypothesis• There is little recognition of the connection between FUD

campaigns in various spheres, which leads to a lack of understanding of how they operate rhetorically.

• FUD is widespread within capitalism, and directly associated with the business life cycle of a particular product.

• FUD emerges as a tool for prolonging profitability of a particular product at the point in which the eventual demise of the product is firmly understood by its creators.

• By understanding FUD as directly tied to the business life cycle, the public can equate it with the end of the product, e.g., once we see FUD, we know a product is doomed.

• FUD increases human suffering. More FUD = more suffering

FUD and Business Models

Source: USFDA Surgeon General’s report 2000.

FUD and Business Models

Source: Emory School of Public Medicine.

Example: Cigarettes

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FUD Effect

Example: Cigarettes

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FUD Factor

FUD Effect

Example: Fossil Fuels

Executives from Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhilips, Shell and BP testifying before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee in June 2010.

Example: Fossil FuelsAction Plan, as drafted by American Petroleum Institute's Global Climate Science Team:• Average citizens “understand” (recognize) uncertainties in

climate science;• Recognition of undertainties becomes part of the

“conventional wisdom”;• Media understands (recognizes) uncertainties in climate

science;• Media coverage reflects balance on climate science and

recognition of the validity of viewpoints challenging the current “conventional wisdom”

• Those promoting the Kyoto treaty on the basis of extant science appear to be out of touch with reality.

Example: Fossil Fuels

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FUD Ef-fect

Example: Private Health Insurance• The U.S. health insurance

system and its preference for private for profit-insurance vendors has been documented to be more expensive than comparable systems and lead to worse health outcomes.

• Its producers are aware of this.

• Its producers are employing FUD to maximize profits.

• FUD will extend human suffering. Image: Kyna Fong.

Example: Firearms

• The U.S. firearms industry has been documented to produce a product which is deleterious to health, safety, and welfare.

• Its producers are aware of this fact.

• Its producers are employing FUD to maximize profits.

• FUD will extend human suffering.

Example: American Football• American football has been

documented to cause brain damage at all levels.

• Current research indicates that brain damage is caused by repetitive collisions, not the “big hit,” and is therefore an unavoidable part of the game

• The NFL is aware of this fact.• The NFL is employing FUD to

maximize profits.• FUD will extend human

suffering.

Summary• There is little recognition of the connection between FUD

campaigns in various spheres, which leads to a lack of understanding of how they operate rhetorically.

• FUD is widespread within capitalism, and directly associated with the business life cycle of a particular product.

• FUD emerges as a tool for prolonging profitability of a particular product at the point in which the eventual demise of the product is firmly understood by its creators.

• By understanding FUD as directly tied to the business life cycle, the public can equate it with the end of the product, e.g., once we see FUD, we know a product is doomed.

• FUD increases human suffering. More FUD = more suffering

Works Cited• Wikipedia contributors, “Fear, uncertainty, and doubt,”Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt#cite_note-LeadRefs000-1, (accessed 1 May 2014).

• Roger Irwin, “What is FUD?” 1998, Caversham Computer Services, http://www.cavcomp.demon.co.uk /halloween/fuddef.html.

• Josh Broder, Green: Energy, the Environment, and the Bottom Line, “Round Up the Usual CEO’S” 11 May 2011, http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/05/11/business/villain/villain-blog480.jpg, (accessed 22 May 2014).

• Barry Meier, New York Times, “12 Years On, Tobacco Suit Due in Court,” 30 January 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/business/31tobacco.html, (accessed 22 May 2014)

• Frank J. Chaloupka, “The Economics of Tobacco Taxation,” 2009 Tobacco Summit, Fairbanks, AK, 16 April 2009, http://www.impacteen.org/generalarea_PDFs/Chaloupka_TobaccoTaxes_AK_041609.pdf (accessed 23 May 2014).

Works Cited

• US FDA Surgeon General’s Report, rpt. In “Global Economic and Health Benefits of Tobacco Control: Part 1,” H Wipfli and J M Samet, Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, http://www.nature.com/clpt/journal/v86/n3/fig_tab/clpt200993f1.html, (accessed 23 May 2014).

• Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium, Emory Rollins School of Public Heatlth, http://www.ttac.org/services/Tobacco_101/mod1lesson1.html, (accessed 23 May 2014).