Selling Apocalypse Now

Author: Kelly Kraetsch, CLASS Outreach Officer, 2010-11

While the global economy is still suffering from the effects of the worst recession since the Great Depression, companies are cashing in on people's concern about the future. Conservative talk show hosts like Glenn Beck work to elevate the climate of financial instability and political polarity to a state of fear of imminent socioeconomic Armageddon. Now, he and others who fuel that fear for a living are profiting from endorsing prophetic products.

The most well-known calamity-centered retailer is Goldline, an online gold seller that advertises heavily during conservative programming, touting the message that Americans should invest in gold now to avoid impending devaluation of U.S. currency. In the ad that plays during Glenn Beck's show, often immediately after his rantings about the likelihood of economic paralysis, Beck opens with, "Trust the people at Goldline." The company has also garnered endorsements from other conservative pundits like Laura Ingraham, Fred Thompson, and Mark Levin, who pitch the company on their own shows and endorse company on its website.

Goldline is under investigation by the Santa Monica City Attorney and was the subject of a September 23 Congressional Hearing after the City Attorney's office received more than one hundred complaints from customers about aggressive sales tactics and allegations that gold was sold to them under false pretenses. Under specific scrutiny is Goldline's new campaign calling on customers to buy "numismatic" coins instead of traditional bullion. These coins contain only 10% of the gold relative to bullion, but have a 25% higher markup. A Consumer Reports investigation determined that Goldline's prices on collectible coins was "inflated." But more egregious is how the company is hawking these overpriced coins: by explicitly analogizing the current economy to the Depression. Goldline's website and mailed sales materials include a copy of F.D.R.'s 1933 executive order warning that private gold ownership would become illegal with the exception of rare numismatic coins. A headline on its website reads: "Goldline Report: Seizure of Gold in '33 Increases Likelihood of 21st Century Governmental Gold Bullion Heist." http://www.goldline.com/government-gold-seizure.

Drawing any parallel for gold confiscation now is patently fraudulent. The U.S. departed from the gold standard in the 1970s. Gold hoarding is a non-issue and the government would have no motivation to confiscate private gold in any form.

Another of Beck's sponsors retails a product it claims will be even more apocalypse-resistant than gold. Survival Seed Bank sells a kit that enables customers to grow their own acre-sized "crisis garden."

In its commercial, a TV plays scenes of Depression-era breadlines and soup kitchens. The spokesman asks: "Are you ever worried that the politicians and the bankers are going to bring the whole thing crashing down? If so, pay close attention, because in an economic meltdown, non-hybrid seeds could become more valuable than even silver and gold. After all, securing a source of food for your family is the single most important thing you can do." At the end of the commercial, viewers are reminded to "prepare today" because "in an economic crisis, non-hybrid seeds are the ultimate barter item." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqRqwU5oeLA

On its website, Survival Seed Bank warns that government agencies are stockpiling canned food and that the supply in threatened by

"a desperate lower class demanding handouts . . . a rapidly diminishing middle class crippled by police state bureaucracy . . . an aloof, ruling elite that has introduced us to an emerging totalitarianism which seeks control over every aspect of our lives." The company admonishes that "as the meltdown progresses, one of the first things to be affected will be our nation's food supply. Expect soaring prices along with moderate to severe shortages by spring. If you don't have the ability to grow your own food next year, your life may be in danger."

The newest Beck advertiser in the "end of the world" market is Food Insurance, which sells backpacks of freeze-dried food packets to feed its customers for two weeks to a year after the food supply is compromised by chaos.

Beck's face and the statement, "as recommended on the Glenn Beck Program" are prominently displayed on the top of the company's website, with a link to the commercial running during his show, in which Beck tells his audience: "I want to talk to you about the changing world that we live in. We have health insurance, this is real food insurance . . . I finished my food storage, and I couldn’t believe how relieved I was, I remember sitting down on the stairs of the basement and looking at it, and thinking ‘I could lose my job, and my family will eat. Sometimes guys don’t realize how much pressure is on them.'" At the end of the ad, Beck urges his audience to "do the easy stuff now. Prepare yourself for what we all hope won’t happen, but probably will, if you’re not prepared. Thanks."
http://www.foodinsurance.com/index.php?gclid=CP6Wm8qY-aQCFQUmbAodvUWmiw
While to most, the concept of peddling products for the apocalypse may seem ridiculous or even comical, the effects are not innocuous. The fear-peddling industry is using people's real economic misfortune and the correlated "every man for himself" philosophy to take advantage of unsophisticated and vulnerable consumers. The self-interested fear mongering of Beck and other media figures who endorse these companies has not just blurred the line between programming and advertising, but rendered it invisible. These pundits should not be able to profit from their propaganda.