Kokonaiskarkaisua

Kokonaiskarkaisua is a Finnish term used in media studies and risk communication to describe a holistic, multi-channel approach to eliciting fear or anxiety in an audience in order to prompt action or behavioral change.

Etymology: The word combines kokonais-, meaning "whole" or "complete," with karkaisua, a noun form related to fright or scare from the verb karkaita or karkas- in its agglutinative form. The term thus conveys a concept of a pervasive or comprehensive scare.

Usage and context: The term appears mainly in Finnish-language commentary and discussions of public health campaigns, disaster preparedness, political messaging, and online media critique. It is not widely established in formal academic terminology and lacks a universal definition in major psychology or communication handbooks. As such, it is often used descriptively to capture a perceived strategy in public discourse rather than to label a standardized method.

Characteristics and implications: Kokonaiskarkaisua typically involves coordinated messaging across multiple channels—television, social media, news coverage, and official statements—to create a sustained atmosphere of threat. While such an approach can mobilize precautionary actions, it raises ethical concerns about manipulation, can provoke audience fatigue, erode trust, and, if overused, lead to desensitization.

See also: fear appeal, risk communication, moral panic, media effects. In Finnish discourse, it is sometimes contrasted with more transparent, rational risk communication and emphasized as a cautionary concept in evaluating public messaging strategies.