Odds Against Tomorrow paints a dark picture of American business as prioritizing profit and power above all else, including the safety of company employees. Alec Charnoble, for example, is so concerned with the success of FutureWorld that he insists his employees stay in New York City during a hurricane even as he safely evacuates. However, the novel reserves its central critique for The Business of Fear: the way in which FutureWorld exploits clients’ fears to sell them its services.

While businesses have long relied on emotional appeals to market their products, the development of new technologies across the centuries has made it much easier for companies to gather data on customers and tailor pitches to them. One turning point came in the late 19th century when a businessman named Thomas J. Barrat found he could increase sales of Pears soap by associating the product with images of domestic contentment. It has since become commonplace for advertisements to target customers’ emotions, which multiple studies have confirmed are a main driver of consumer decision-making.

Such marketing does not necessarily limit itself to positive emotions; negative emotions like loneliness, envy, and sadness also powerfully influence human behavior and can therefore generate profit for companies that understand how to leverage them.