Conway offers a slightly different take to Cullen in terms of how FUD has been used in the past. In addition to being deployed by innovators, he argues it was also used by those seeking to control the pace of the market to keep customers in line. “It was used as a threat to worry people to always keep things modest and not to ever do anything radical. It was used to stymie and stifle people from developing new technology. It wasn’t unique to the IT industry. FUD is always in people’s lives. It’s embedded in what everybody does to some degree.”
“A lot of people continue to ignore the advice they’re given” – Michael Conway, Renaissance
There’s no doubt that Conway has a point when he suggests that FUD is not just confined to the IT industry. Here in Ireland we know all about FUD in terms of the decision taken by the Government on 30 September 2008 and the effects of that decision on our economy ever since. We’ll never know whether it was the right decision or not but what we do know is that, nearly six years after the event, the atmosphere of FUD surrounding that decision has still not dispelled.
In Scotland, the battle being waged over whether that country should vote for independence or remain a part of the UK is also being conducted in a blizzard of scare stories to the extent that the anti-independence side’s campaign has been dubbed ‘Project Fear’ by its opponents.
Nevertheless, Halpin believes FUD is a “prehistoric strategy” in the IT industry and suggests the supplier/customer relationship has moved on to a point where it no longer applies. In any case, he asks, is it really trading on fear or is it awareness? If an organisation is generating business out of pure fear, then the customer probably needs to look at that relationship. But it could be a question of interpretation, Halpin adds. “If the Doctor is telling you that it’s probably not a good idea to smoke too much, that’s not fear, it’s awareness.”
Very true. But to take it back to Revson and Revlon, the hope it was selling in stores smelt very pleasant, sometimes the things other people sell (including those in the IT industry) can smell much more like something that comes out of the back end of a bull.
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