Law of Scarcity plays a large role in the persuasion process. Opportunities are always more valuable and exciting
when they are scarce and less available. We want to be the ones to own the rare items or to get the last widget on the
shelf. The more the scarcity of an item increases, the more the item increases in value, and the greater the urge to own
it.

Anytime someone feels their freedom—to choose, think, or act—is being restricted, they ‘‘experience psychological reactance and attempt to restore their freedom.’’

With this restriction on freedom we are driven to latch on to that thing which we fear will be restricted even more. Instead of standing by and saying, ‘‘Okay, I’ll give that up,’’ we
take the opposite approach. Suddenly, that restricted item is even more important to us. Researchers call this
tendency ‘‘reactance.’’[4] An intensely motivational state, reactance causes us to be emotional, single-minded, or
even irrational. We hate feeling restricted, so we are highly motivated to resolve anything that creates that feeling.
It isdue to reactance that we act, and that we want it now.

In another study involving children, researchers told the children they could select from a wide array of candy bars.
They then pointed out a particular candy bar and told them they should not choose that one, but any of the others
would be fine. The children reacted to the threat to their freedom of choice by choosing the bar they’d been told not
to select. In doing so, they felt they had preserved their freedom to select whatever bar they wanted.[6] It makes you wonder if that is also why Adam and Eve, who had the entire Garden of Eden to play in, couldn’t stay away from the
forbidden fruit.

In 1966 Jackie Kennedy’s personal belongings were put up for auction. Everyone knew such items would reel in top dollar. More than 100,000 catalogs were sold prior to the auction. Hardcover catalogs sold at ninety dollars a copy,while paperback catalogs cost forty-five dollars a copy. The week the belongings were on public display, more than40,000 people took part. The hype and anticipation surrounding the event catapulted prices far beyond the originallyanticipated prices.

For example, a brooch estimated at $6,000 to $8,000 sold for $415,000; John F. Kennedy’s golf clubs were estimated at $700 to $900 but sold for $772,500; a wooden cigar box estimated at $2,000 sold for $547,500; even a cigarette lighter inscribed with the letter ‘‘J’’—estimated at $300—sold for $85,000.[1]

Think about potatoes. Nothing special, right? There was a time in history (late 1700s) when potatoes were not a
popular food. The French thought potatoes were connected with leprosy, the Germans thought they were nothing
better than feed for livestock, and Russian peasants actually thought they were poisonous!
Then Catherine the Great came along and turned potatoes into gold. She had high fences installed to enclose her potato fields. Signs dotted the
land warning the Russian citizens not to steal her potatoes.

With the potatoes suddenly off limits, they became the talk of the town! Imagine what those peasants were thinking as they watched those big, tall fences go up: ‘‘Why are they
fencing in the potato fields? Why are the rich keeping the potatoes all to themselves? Why are we restricted to the
same old beef stew every single day?
We deserve potatoes, too! We need potatoes! Give us potatoes!’’

The Law of Scarcity works even when the desired object or thing isn’t going to really benefit the recipient.
A county in Florida enacted legislation forbidding the sale and use of laundry detergents containing phosphates, as phosphates negatively impact the environment and don’t help clean the clothes.

Before the ban went into effect, stores
experienced an increase in sales of the phosphate-containing detergents. After the ban was underway, stores within
the city saw a drop in laundry detergent sales overall, while stores in surrounding counties not affected by the ban saw
an increase in sales of the phosphate-containing detergents.

Later, when consumers were polled as to which detergents were better, the residents where the ban had taken place
rated the restricted detergents higher than any others in all categories. The Law of Scarcity had made the limited
product dramatically more appealing.

In one experiment, students were given a written description of a particular novel. Half of the students’ copies
included the description, ‘‘a book for adults only, restricted to those twenty-one years and over,’’ while the other half
contained no such restriction. When polled about their feelings about the novel, students reading about the restriction indicated that they thought they would like to read the book, while students who had not read the restriction expressed significantly less interest.

Restricting access to information or material often makes it that much more appealing. Although this topic typically
brings to mind material of a sexually explicit nature, scarcity can apply to anything. Consider a form of censorship at the University of North Carolina.

When students learned that a speech in favor of coed dorms was banned, they
became more smitten with the idea of coed dorms. It is of great significance to realize that, without ever having heard
the actual speech, the censorship alone heightened the students’ interest. The students didn’t even need to hear the
speech to be persuaded to support or become more committed to the notion of coed dorms.