Emotional Advertising: Consumer Ads Run on Wanting, Not Pain

Why doesn't the pain point fit consumer ads?

The pain point fits consumer ads badly because most consumer ads are not answering a problem. The Emotion Map files seven emotions under "when the problem arrives": stress, overwhelm, anxiety, dread, frustration, disappointment and resignation. Across the 4,370 tagged ads and videos in the library, those seven carry 419, under 10%.

Wanting carries far more. Desire, wanting a thing for itself, is the most common emotion in the library at 673 ads, ahead of trust at 360, which is the biggest of the Map's 24. The table below shows the 12 emotions with the most ads, and how many make each one's Say move, the message the research supports, or its Avoid mistake, the one that turns the feeling against the brand.

Six of the top seven are feelings the Map does not name. Pain-point briefs reach under a tenth of the library.

How was the library tagged, and what can it not tell you?

In September 2026 each of the 6,480 items on bmds.sa/library was read against a list of 34 emotions, the Map's 24 plus the 10 in this article, and given the one emotion it is written to, or none. Each tagged item also got a verdict: it makes that emotion's Say move, it makes its Avoid mistake, or it does neither clearly.

The tags say what an ad is written to and whether it makes the move the research supports. They do not say whether it sold. The library is also a collection, not a sample of any market: 2,210 historical ads from public archives, mostly American and British; 2,755 ads from the Egyptian press between 1905 and 1975, from the American University in Cairo's archive; 1,074 Gulf brand ads, 764 of them Saudi; and 441 videos on YouTube, mostly television spots.

A third of the library, 2,110 items, is written to none of the 34. The counts show what ads attempt, not what works.

What are the 10 feelings, and what does each one need?

The 10 feelings are desire, excitement, belonging, amusement, duty, hope, love, joy, compassion and nostalgia, and each needs one thing next: desire the terms, excitement a date, belonging a real job for the product, amusement a joke that lands on the product, duty one act, hope a path, love the product as the tool, joy the brand inside the moment, compassion what the help does, and nostalgia something real carried into now. Each has a neighbor that looks alike from the outside and needs a different message.

Desire, or envy?

Desire is wanting a thing for itself: how it looks, tastes or feels, or the life it opens. Envy is its neighbor, and it is wanting someone else's advantage rather than the thing.

Desire needs the offer at the same size as the want. Show the thing up close, where it will be used, doing what it does, then give the full price with every fee, the conditions and where to buy. IKEA Saudi Arabia's soft-serve post does it in three lines: "حلاوتها بريال" (its sweetness for a riyal) over one cone shot close on plain green, the 1-riyal price under its own IKEA Family tag, and free sign-up stated beside it.

Most desire ads do half of that. Of the 673 in the library, 532 build the want and state no terms, and only 126 make the full move. The Avoid mistake goes further and hides the terms: a "from" price few will get, fees that appear at checkout, a deadline that is not real. An Ideal kitchen ad in al-Kawakib in 1957 called its kitchen "every housewife's dream" and gave only a from-3-pounds-a-month figure over 23 months, never the full price.

Hidden terms do sell on the day, which is why this is a line and not a performance tip. In an experiment with 408 adults, 24.5% of buyers ended up with the airline that cost more in total when optional fees were revealed step by step, against 7.8% when fees were shown up front, and they liked their choice less (Santana and colleagues, Marketing Science, 2020).

Excitement, or anxiety?

Excitement is eager anticipation of something good. It feels like anxiety in the body, but the story the reader tells about it is hopeful, and it is strongest for things people will do rather than things they will own: a launch, a match, a concert, a trip (Kumar and colleagues, Psychological Science, 2014).

Excitement needs a date, a time and one step. Bank Muscat's Asian Cup post leads with the tournament and two painted fans already in the stadium, then gives the step and the window: download the Ahlan app, booking open for 48 hours from 15 September 2026. In a study of 3,272 employees at one US firm, a flu-clinic reminder that asked people to write down the date and time they would go raised vaccination by 4.2 percentage points on a 33.1% base, while the date alone added 1.5 points, not a significant gain (Milkman and colleagues, PNAS, 2011).

Excitement has no Avoid mistakes in the library: 284 of 392 make the move, and none break it. The mistake would be promising specifics the day will not keep, such as an act not yet booked or a "last chance" that moves. Obvious exaggeration that nobody would take literally is allowed, as long as it does not mislead (UK CAP Code, rule 3.2).

Belonging, or fitting in?

Belonging is being your unedited self and wanted anyway, part of a family, a city or a country without changing to be let in. Fitting in is its opposite: changing yourself to match what a group wants.

Belonging needs the product to have a real job inside something the group already does, in the group's own words. Virgin Mobile's National Day line for unlimited minutes reads "التواصل بطبعنا" (staying in touch is in our nature), and the minutes have a job: ending the "one minute, I'm hanging up" call.

The Avoid mistake comes in two forms. One sells fitting in: a 1953 ad for the Gattegno stores in Cairo closed on the claim that "every elegant woman must visit the fabrics department". The other is the stock occasion ad, flags and a greeting any brand could sign, and it makes up most of the 54 belonging ads in the library that make the Avoid mistake. The evidence says cultural fit on its own moves people only a little: across 121 comparisons with 12,201 people, fitting an ad to the audience's values made it slightly more persuasive, and the gain has shrunk over the years (Hornikx and colleagues, 2023).

Saudi law adds a hard line: the national flag may not appear in commercial advertising at any time, National Day included (Flag Law, Article 15; Ministry of Commerce, September 2022).

Amusement: laughing with the product, or at someone?

Amusement is the light pleasure of something that does not quite fit: a little wrong or unexpected, but harmless. Of the 10, it is the one library ads get right most reliably, with 250 of 306 making the Say move.

Amusement needs the joke to land on the product's point, so the brand arrives with the punchline. Almarai set a generic glass of milk, labeled "الايموجي الموجود" (the emoji we have), beside an Almarai bottle drawn as "الايموجي المطلوب" (the emoji we want). The joke cannot be retold without the product.

The Avoid mistake is a joke that works without the product, or one at someone's expense. In a Dutch study of 60 students shown stills from real TV ads, the funny ads were recalled more often than plain ones, 67% against 53%, but of the ads they did recall, they named the product less often for the funny ones, 77% against 92% (Hansen and colleagues, 2009).

Duty, or shame?

Duty is the pull of an obligation to people you belong to, felt as "this is mine to do": family, country, community, faith. Leaving it undone feels like guilt, and one push further is shame.

Duty needs one act, made easy, and a reason in terms of people the reader is already bound to. A 1975 al-Sharq Insurance ad in al-Kawakib opened on the proverb "الأقربون أولى بالمعروف" (charity begins with one's nearest kin), then named the act: one pound a month for 20 years, no medical exam. In a 2008 US election field experiment with a sample of 287,228, calls that helped people plan what time they would vote, where they would be coming from and what they would do beforehand raised turnout by 4.1 points among those reached, while a standard "please vote" call had no significant effect (Nickerson and Rogers, Psychological Science, 2010).

The Avoid mistake enforces duty with shame, threat or public exposure, or calls for duty with no act attached. Across 89 countries, a shaming message did not raise intentions to comply and raised the pressured motivation that goes with defiance (Legate and colleagues, PNAS, 2022).

Hope, or false hope?

Hope is wanting a better outcome that is not certain but still possible, and that matters: to get well, to have a child, to pass, to earn more. The hope that moves people has three parts: a goal, a way to reach it, and the belief that you can.

It is 1924, and a tonic called Vigoron is advertising in al-Kashkul, a Cairo weekly. Its promise is that "the tired, the thin, the worn out and the old" will "find at once strength, nerve, health and youth". Another ad that year says Yadil "cures influenza immediately". Hope is the largest feeling in the library that ads get wrong more often than right: of 280 hope ads, 160 make the Avoid mistake and 47 make the Say move. Most of the mistakes sit in the Egyptian and English press of the 1920s and 1930s: tonics, cures, slimming teas, correspondence courses and lotteries.

Hope needs a path. Say what changes, how, how long it usually takes and what the reader must do, and show what the typical buyer gets rather than the best case. Sakani's plot reservation post does this with "خطوتك الأولى نحو منزل المستقبل" (your first step toward the home of the future) above five linked boxes, from sign-in to the plot, and a last box stating what follows. The best case misleads even with a disclaimer: in a test with 582 shoppers for the US Federal Trade Commission, where five testimonials claimed losses of 48 to 72 pounds and "results not typical" ran in bold red, 55% still took it that new users would lose at least 48 pounds; where the ad said the average user loses about 10 pounds in three months, 15% did (Hastak and Mazis, 2004).

Anyone selling weight loss, skin treatments, courses or savings plans is selling hope, and the library's 1920s pages show what the category looks like when the path is left out.

Love, or guilt?

Love, in ads, is mostly family love: parent and child, partners, and what people do for each other.

Love needs the product as the tool and the people at the center. ToYou's post "الهدية ما تحتاج مناسبة" (a gift doesn't need an occasion) gives the real reason to send one, "sometimes you give because the person came to mind", and leaves the app as the carrier.

The Avoid mistake makes the product the proof of love, which puts the reader on trial. A 1970 insurance ad in al-Kawakib opened: "حنان الأم على أطفالها لا يكفي" (a mother's tenderness toward her children is not enough). Across 26 studies with 7,512 people, guilt appeals that blamed the audience averaged about a fifth of the effect of those that only showed the harm, though the gap was only marginally significant (Peng and colleagues, 2023).

Joy, or relief?

Joy is a sudden rush of delight, usually shared, often when something good arrives sooner or better than hoped. Relief, its neighbor in The Emotion Map, is a release after a fear passes.

Joy needs the brand inside the moment while the joy is rising, not on the end card. Albaik's group-order post reads "الطلب واحد.. والفرحة للجميع" (one order, and the joy is for everyone) over four friends' hands reaching into one phone on match night. When 178 people watched 82 TV ads, smiles after the brand first appeared went with higher purchase intent, and smiles before it did not (Teixeira and colleagues, Marketing Science, 2014).

Compassion, or pity?

Compassion is facing someone's suffering as an equal and wanting to help, kindness from beside them rather than from above. Pity is the same concern felt from a distance, with the other person seen as lesser.

Compassion needs the person shown with a life and plans, and exactly what the reader's help does. In Ramadan 2015, Farm Frites in Egypt showed the children of Wayana, a charity for children with disabilities, on an outing, and gave each changed profile picture a stated value: 1 pound to Wayana, up to 100,000. Being concrete pays: among 119 adults, describing one thing a charity does, clean water for villages in West Africa, rather than its work in general, raised real donations by over 80%, from $0.48 to $0.88 out of a $2 fee (Cryder and colleagues, 2013).

Pity also pays in the short run. In one study, 77% of people shown a charity flyer with a sad child gave part of their fee, against 52% for the same child looking happy or neutral (Small and Verrochi, Journal of Marketing Research, 2009). The authors warn that intense misery may leave viewers feeling helpless. A 1932 hospital lottery ad in al-Musawwar is pity in one line: "the tears of the wretched plead with you".

Nostalgia, or "better then"?

Nostalgia is a wistful longing for the past, usually one's own: childhood, family, a home left behind. It comforts, and it misleads when the past is remembered as better than it was.

Nostalgia needs something real carried from then into now, and a plain statement of what it does for the reader today. Saudia ice cream's sandwich ad has a man talking to the bar like a lost love, then "الوصفة الأصلية رجعت" (the original recipe is back).

The Avoid mistake says things were better then, or claims a past the brand did not have. Studio Misr's 1947 re-release ad argued that "pre-war films are stronger and greater than post-war films". Nostalgic ads persuade slightly more than plain ones, a small effect across 31 studies with 5,814 people, and more when the product is tied to the viewer's own memories (Cheng and Yan, International Journal of Advertising, 2023). A founding year or "the original recipe" is a factual claim, and it has to be true.

Which feelings do ads get wrong most often?

Hope and relief are the feelings ads get wrong most often. Among the emotions with 30 or more ads in the library, only three have more Avoid mistakes than Say moves: hope (160 against 47), relief (82 against 51) and comparison (24 against 5). Across all 4,370 tagged ads, the Avoid mistake is still the rarer failure: 631 make one, while 1,262 are written to a feeling and make neither move clearly.

Hope and relief are both promises about a state the reader has not reached yet, and a promise costs nothing to print. Relief works when a user's words or a shown result name it, and fails as a bare claim about a relief the reader has not felt. Most of the relief mistakes in the library are Egyptian press ads for painkillers, plasters and tonics.

The same Cairo archive that holds the 1924 tonic ads also holds 1960s ads for Samir, a children's weekly, making three different Say moves: a board game given with the issue "to spend the Eid al-Adha holiday with" and the date to wait for; a stamp album with the terms spelled out; a Mawlid issue drawn around the feast's sugar horse.

The feelings that fail most are promises.

Where is the line in consumer advertising?

A consumer ad crosses the line when it uses a feeling to stop the customer thinking instead of helping them decide. The Emotion Map's three tests still apply. Does every fear message come with a step the reader can take? Is the guilt moderate, specific and repairable? Is the problem put on a situation, never on the person reading?

The 10 consumer feelings add their own lines, and each is the Avoid mistake of one entry: terms hidden behind a want, a deadline that is not real, a cure or a fortune promised to people who want it badly, a group's belonging sold as a test of membership, a joke at someone's expense, duty enforced by public shame, love measured by what was spent, and suffering staged for pity.

The law sets only a floor. Saudi Arabia's E-Commerce Law (2019) prohibits electronic advertising with a false claim or wording that could mislead the consumer (Article 11) and allows fines of up to SAR 1,000,000 (Article 18).

One more test from the Map carries over unchanged. If a customer would feel manipulated on learning how an ad was designed, the ad needs redesigning.

Isn't brand advertising supposed to be pure feeling?

Brand advertising can run on feeling alone, as long as the brand is inside it. That answers the strongest objection to this article, which runs like this: brand advertising builds feeling over years, a price or a date in the frame kills the mood, and the evidence says emotional campaigns win. The evidence part is real. In Les Binet and Peter Field's analysis of the IPA Effectiveness Databank, among campaigns that ran for three years or more, 43% of emotional campaigns reported very large profit growth, against 23% of rational ones (The Long and the Short of It, IPA, 2013).

Those were campaigns with brands inside them, and the consumer research points the same way. Smiles before the brand appeared did not go with higher purchase intent (Teixeira and colleagues, 2014). An ad built on viewers' own past beat a plain ad on warm feelings and liking for the ad, and trailed it on thoughts about the brand and recall of the message (Muehling and Pascal, Journal of Advertising, 2011). Funny ads without a product point were remembered better, and their products named less often (Hansen and colleagues, 2009). None of these studies measured sales, and most ran in a lab, so they support a direction rather than a size.

What a feeling needs next is not always a price. For joy, amusement, love and nostalgia, it is the brand. Emotion builds a brand only with the brand inside.

How do Gulf brand ads compare?

Gulf brand ads are the least emotional part of the library. Of its 1,074 Gulf ads, 825 are brand posts on X and Instagram, most from 2026, and 249 are written breakdowns of Gulf campaigns; 764 are Saudi. 500 of the 1,074, 47%, are written to none of the 34 feelings, and 291 of those lean on a price, a discount, points or cashback instead. In the English archive the share with no emotion is a third.

Where a Gulf post does reach for a feeling, it is desire most often, and desire is left unfinished most often: 191 Gulf desire ads, 156 of them showing the want with no terms at the same size, 22 making the full move the IKEA post makes. Belonging comes next at 100 ads, with 54 making the Say move and 21 making the Avoid mistake, mostly occasion greetings any brand could sign. Across the Gulf ads that carry a feeling, 42% make the Say move, against 68% in the English archive. The English archive was collected as a swipe file, so it leans toward ads someone thought worth keeping, and the gap is partly that.

If you have approved a National Day post in the past two years, you have probably approved one of each: a discount with no feeling, and a greeting with no offer.

How do you find the feeling your customer is in?

The feeling your customer is in is already written down, in their words, in places nobody reads for feelings. Finding it takes an afternoon.

1. Collect the words. Google Maps reviews, comments and DMs, WhatsApp orders, complaints to the call center. Use their language, not your summary of it.
2. Mark the feeling words and the moments. Ramadan, payday, back to school, the match, the wedding. Consumer feelings often come with a date.
3. Name the closest of the 34, then test its neighbor. Desire or envy? Belonging or fitting in? Compassion or pity? The neighbor is where the message changes.
4. Give each asset one feeling, and the thing it needs next. The terms, the date, the act, the path, or the brand inside the moment.
5. Run the tests in "Where is the line in consumer advertising?" before anything ships.

The library's emotion pages show each of the 34 feelings with ads from the library doing it right and doing it wrong, filterable by lane.

The Consumer Emotion Map · 2026

The Consumer Emotion Map.

10 feelings, the move each one needs, and ads doing each right and wrong. Free PDF.

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Frequently asked questions

Where the numbers come from

The library figures were counted on 25 September 2026 from the tags on all 6,480 ads and videos live on bmds.sa/library, and each emotion page there shows the ads behind its count. Each research figure was checked against its primary source, or the published abstract where the full text is paywalled, and each study is named where it is used. Several samples are small, several are lab studies, and most measure stated intent rather than sales; where that matters, the text says so. Joy, belonging, amusement, nostalgia, excitement, love and compassion are names from Brené Brown's Atlas of the Heart (Random House, 2021). The definitions are BMD's own wording, and BMD is not affiliated with Brené Brown or her publisher. The full source list is in the PDF.

The Consumer Emotion Map · 2026

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The Consumer Emotion Map lists each one, with what it measured.

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About BMD

Most companies don't have a marketing problem. They have a marketing department that was built to underperform. BMD is a boutique consultancy based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that builds structured, measurable marketing departments inside mid-market companies across the GCC. We don't run your campaigns, and we don't hand over a strategy deck and leave. We build the structure, the measurement and the clear responsibility that turn marketing into a function leadership can rely on. Delivered in Arabic and English, founder-led.

Redha Alayesh

Redha Alayesh, founder of BMD, is a marketing consultant who has worked with 40+ marketing departments.

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An ad that raises a feeling and then stops has done the easy half. The other half is usually one line long.