Moral panic occurs when a group or behavior is perceived as threatening societal values and interests. Media plays a role by dramatizing stories in ways that appeal to audiences but also sensationalize events and call for punishment. Stanley Cohen studied the mods and rockers of the 1960s and how they were negatively portrayed in the media as folk devils threatening law and order. For a moral panic to occur there must be widespread concern about a perceived threat, increased hostility towards the group, a consensus that the group is dangerous, and a disproportionate reaction, though moral panics tend to be short-lived.