Governing through (in)security: a critical analysis of a fear-based public health campaign

Abstract

Fear appeals are once again popular in public health campaigns aimed at preventing unhealthy behaviors and dangerous life practices such as smoking, unsafe sexual practices, drug use, alcohol abuse, impaired driving, etc. Every year in the province of Quebec (Canada), a new prevention campaign for sexually transmitted infections is launched by the SLITSS (Service de lutte contre les infections transmissibles sexuellement et par le sang). In 2006–2007, the SLITSS created a fear-based campaign entitled ‘Condoms: They aren’t a luxury’ for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections in young adults. The purpose of this paper is to share the results of a discursive analysis of the documents retrieved from this campaign, which was developed using commercial advertising and marketing strategies. Using situational analysis and the mapping process proposed by Clarke (2005 Clarke, A. 2005. Situational analysis: grounded theory after the postmodern turn, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), we critically examine the use of fear appeal in the campaign. Drawing on Michel Foucault's concepts of governmentality and bio-power, we assert that fear should be understood as a bio-political technology deployed to manage/govern young adults’ sexual practices. In doing so, we critique the use of fear as a strategy to create a state of permanent (in)security and challenge the adoption of commercial advertising and marketing strategies to develop public health campaigns.