While many associate Halloween with spine-tingling tales and hair-raising haunts, fear isn't just a once-a-year affair. It's a deeply embedded part of global pop culture, stretching beyond October's eerie ambiance. Not just the stuff of horror films, haunted houses or ghost stories, fear has long been a motivator, urging us into action. So, it was only a matter of time before this primal emotion was harnessed by advertisers and became a powerful, albeit chilling, tool in their arsenal.

Wave I: The Dawn of Fearful Advertising (and Modern Hygiene)

I bet being a woman between 1920s to 1950s was difficult. No, not because of the two world wars, or the lack of rights, or the general misogyny, but because of all these damn new hygiene products. Whereas before taking a bath once a week was plenty, now you must use all these products to hide your B.O. or end up alone.

• If you don’t use Listerine you can end up with the scary sounding Halitosis and your bad breath will end up becoming the talk of the town.
• If you don’t use Odorono’s deodorant men will think you stink, and you will end up alone.
• Without Lifebuoy soap men will also not like you, because you stink, so you will die alone.
• Men had to face similar messaging with Lucky Strike, though to a lesser extent.

Fearmongering targeting vanity and social norms this overt may seem incredibly outlandish to us. Nevertheless, the art of scaring women into buying soap is deeper than it seems, as it targeted (most likely unconsciously) the broader anxieties of the times. The transition from industrial to a more large-scale corporate economic system in 1920s meant that conformity became a valued characteristic in the workforce. The Great Depression also had a conservative impact on society, as people learned the importance economic and social security for survival. Additionally, the Red Scare and growing racial tensions exacerbated the fear of ‘otherness’.

Thankfully, this social climate didn’t last forever: enter 1960s counterculture and the rise of social individualism. Social ostracisation was no longer the bogeyman it once was; it became a vestige of Baby Boomer’s parents’ close-mindedness. Thus, the fear parasite had to find a new marketing host.

Decades of such fear-driven strategies have indelibly shaped the public's psyche, often leaving a sense of helplessness in its wake. This Halloween, as we revel in seasonal spooks, let's also remember the subtler, more persistent fears that marketing has often whispered in our ears.

Author is WMH&I creative researcher, Alice Pukhova. The article first featured in Mediashotz.