Disappointment
Ads and videos written to this emotion: 16. 12 make the Say move, 3 make the Avoid mistake.
The Emotion Map's entry, written for B2B buyers.
What it is
The letdown when things turn out worse than you'd counted on. It stings more the more you'd pinned on it.
Where it shows up
After an agency, a hire or a campaign that was supposed to fix things.
Sounds like
"We were promised leads."
Say
Reset the expectation before you make a promise: what will change, what will not, and how both will be checked.
Avoid
A bigger promise than the last supplier made. It schedules the next disappointment.
In consumer ads
Say: Reset the expectation before promising: what the product will do, what it will not, and how the buyer can check both.
Avoid: A bigger promise than the last product the reader tried. It schedules the next letdown.
Doing it right
Ads that make the Say move.
Gillette A Frank Confession ad, The New York Times, 1932
It admits some blades 'were not as good as you had a right to expect', names the new process and the withdrawn Kroman De Luxe, refuses superlatives and lets a dealer refund carry the promise.
Ghaltet al-Omr film ad, al-Kawakib 1953
Instead of its own promise, it sends readers let down by local films to people who have already seen it, whose verdict is that it restores trust in Egyptian cinema.
Feima coffee substitute poster
It resets the expectation before promising: Kaffee-Ersatz admits it is a substitute, mit Bohnen-Kaffee names the real coffee inside, and a grinning older drinker over a steaming glass gives the verdict.
Agency house ad: Where Advertising Gets the Introduction
The headline admits advertising only gets the introduction and personal selling must close, then promises just the co-ordination between ads and salesmen, shown on Gair, Irving National Bank and Burlington campaigns.
Baldness remedy story ad, Photoplay, 1925
Its narrator starts as the category's loudest sceptic, blames failed tonics on treating the leaves not the roots, admits it will not grow hair in every case, and lets the user judge the guarantee.
Bile Bean Manufacturing Co. Nature's Road to Health booklet
Mrs. Crumplin's story starts where 'numerous so-called cures' had failed her, and a free sample box plus two doctors' certificates let a reader who has been let down test the claim first.
It names the letdown of over-promising ads, then resets the expectation with checkable terms: plan names 200, 300 and 400, all networks, no fair-use cap.
طيران ناس يطلق خدمة Find My View لأول مرة على مستوى العالم ✈️
It names the letdown of a wing-and-cloud view and resets the expectation with the method behind the fix, so the promise arrives with a reason the passenger can check.
It resets the expectation before promising: delays may happen, here is why, and the only promise is effort, not a delivery time it cannot keep.
Solana by Ora: ORA Ramadan ad 2024- Amir Karara
Instead of the gardens and graphics buyers were shown before, the ad shows dust, cranes and a crew that will not stop, answering does anyone deliver on time with visible site progress.
Doing it wrong
Ads that make the Avoid mistake.
Nobel pills tonic ad, al-Kashkul 1925
Addressed to the weak who tried many medicines 'that did no good', it answers with a larger promise, youthful strength returned even to the old, and offers no evidence beyond a free booklet.
"Treating by Mail" mail-order medical newspaper
It tells chronic sufferers why their physicians failed, then promises Dr. Miles can treat anyone correctly by post, even patients other doctors called incurable: a bigger promise than the one that let them down.
Pink Pills 'The Queen's Gift' old and new century pamphlet
To readers let down by remedies that failed, 'They cure the CAUSES of Disease' makes a bigger promise than any before, resting only on a doctor's degree and claimed cures.
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