The Propaganda Playbook: Fear Machine (Only 28% of Americans Trust the News. Ebola and Hantavirus Headlines Prove Why) - #Marketing - Ep. 131

**Russell Brunson** (0:00)
Do you have a funnel, but it's not converting? The problem 99.9% of the time is that your funnel is good, but you suck at selling. If you want to learn how to sell, so your funnels will actually convert, then get a ticket to my next Selling Online event by going to sellingonline.com/podcast. That's sellingonline.com/podcast. This is The Russell Brunson Show.
In 2020, something got put into your brain, a switch. And every time the media can, they flip the switch because they know that it still works. This week, it's Ebola. Three weeks ago, it was the hantavirus. The CDC said the risk to Americans is extremely low.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:37)
The WHO said on the camera, this is not the next Covid.

**Russell Brunson** (0:39)
But the headlines don't say that because calm does not get clicks. Fear does. And today I'm going to show you exactly how they do it. The machine, the funnel, the business model behind the fear. I'm going to use a book that was written in 2012 that predicted all of it.
This is the Propaganda Playbook, where I take the biggest stories in the news and decode the propaganda techniques that are hidden inside of them. And then I show you how to use the ethical version of those same techniques to grow your business. So with that said, let's get right into today.
I teach a framework called Hook, Story, Offer. And it's the backbone of every sales funnel I've ever built. When I looked at how the media covers these virus stories, I realized they're using the exact same script, except they're not selling a product, they're selling fear. Here's how it works. Step one, the Hook. That headline, that's the Hook. It's designed to do one thing, trigger the part of your brain that kept your ancestors alive, the fear response. Your heart rate goes up, your palms get sweaty and you have to click, not because you want to, but because your brain will let you scroll past a survival threat. That's the same thing I teach marketers to do with the sales page, except I teach them to use curiosity and desire, and the media uses raw fear.
Step number two is the Story. The article is self and this is where it gets sneaky. Read any of these virus articles top to bottom. The scary stuff is at the top. The context, the part where the CDC says it's an extremely low risk is buried at the bottom or it's not there at all. And this is not an accident, that's a structure. The story is built to keep your anxiety going paragraph by paragraph, every line adding a new what if. What if it spreads? What if it mutates? What if we're not ready? By the time you get to the context, you've already been scared for three minutes.
Step number three is the Offer. And here's the part that nobody talks about. The Offer isn't a product. The Offer is to stay tuned. Follow more for updates, sign up for alerts, turn on your notifications. They're not selling you a cure, they're selling you a subscription to fear. And the price is your attention, your mental health and your ad impressions. Because every time you click, they get paid. Every time you refresh, they get paid. Every time you share with a friend and say, did you see this? They just got paid. And that's the fear funnel. Hook you with a scary headline, keep you with a scary story, and then sell you ongoing anxiety as a subscription. And the machine runs itself.
My question for you is, would you ever wear a mask again? I wanna know, drop it on the comments and let me know where you stand. All right, so let me show you what the actual science says, not the headlines, but the science. Hantavirus, cruise ship outbreak in April, 11 cases, three deaths, all in one ship. The CDC says, and this is a direct quote, the risk to the American public is extremely low. Harvard says the Hantavirus pandemic is nearly impossible. It spread through rodent contact, not through the air. Then we got Ebola, the new outbreak in the Congo and Uganda, 246 suspected cases. This is serious for that region. The WHO declared health emergency on May 17th, but the CDC said that the risk to the United States is low. Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids, not through the air, not through casual contact. So scientists are saying low risk, extremely low risk, no Covid, not airborne, not pandemic. And then the headlines are saying, is this the next pandemic?

**SPEAKER_2** (3:42)
This is not the next Covid, but it is a serious infectious disease. You know, it's an infectious disease that if people get infected and infections are uncommon, they can die.