Outrage porn, also known as outrage culture, refers to any type of media that is designed to invoke outrage for the purpose of getting traffic or attention online. The term outrage porn was coined by political cartoonist and essayist Tim Kreider of The New York Times. Coined in 2009, the term was later popularized by author and Observer media critic Ryan Holiday.
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Overview
Outrage porn is a term used to explain media that is created not in order to generate sympathy, but rather to cause anger or outrage among its consumers. It is characterized by insincere rage, umbrage and indignation. Media outlets are often incentivized to feign outrage because it specifically triggers many of the most lucrative online behaviors, including leaving comments, repeat pageviews and social sharing, which the outlets capitalize on. Salon, Gawker and affiliated websites Valleywag and Jezebel have been noted for abusing the tactic.
Jonah Berger, a professor of marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania conducted a study on the spreadability of emotions via social media and concluded that, "Anger is a high-arousal emotion, which drives people to take action...It makes you feel fired up, which makes you more likely to pass things on.” Additionally, online audiences may be susceptible to outrage porn in part because of their feeling of powerlessness to managers, politicians, creditors and celebrities.
Tim Kreider makes a distinction between authentic outrage and outrage porn by stating, "I’m not saying that all outrage is inherently irrational, that we should all just calm down, that It’s All Good. All is not good...Outrage is healthy to the extent that it causes us to act against injustice."
In 2015, the New York Times praised the animated sitcom South Park for its treatment of outrage culture, describing the show as "perfectly captur[ing] our era of outrage."