Guilt
Ads and videos written to this emotion: 57. 35 make the Say move, 21 make the Avoid mistake.
The Emotion Map's entry, written for B2B buyers.
What it is
The pang of "I did something wrong," not "I am wrong." It points at the act and pushes you to repair it.
Where it shows up
A leader who knows a delay has cost the company.
Sounds like
"We should have fixed this last year."
Say
Moderate and specific: the cost of the delay, and the repair still available.
Avoid
Heavy guilt. Moderate guilt appeals produced more felt guilt than low or high ones, and stronger appeals worsened attitudes toward the ad and the brand, driven in particular by anger (Coulter and Pinto 1995, n=60).
In consumer ads
Say: Moderate and specific: what the lapse costs, and the repair still available, such as the call that can still be made or the check-up that can still be booked.
Avoid: Heavy guilt: the let-down child, the lonely parent, the harm that could have been avoided, all laid on the viewer. It turns them against the ad and the brand.
Doing it right
Ads that make the Say move.
Egyptian General Organisation for Insurance life insurance ad, al-Kawakib 1968
The top picture pins a specific lapse, money scattered on horses, cards and drink, and the lower one shows the repair still open: a man calm with his family, all holding policies.
'Sir, don't waste while your wife saves' clean plate poster
"Sir, don't waste while your wife saves" names one specific lapse, leftovers on restaurant plates, and its cost, then offers the repair as a light, named rule: the doctrine of the clean plate.
A. Dusonchet optician eye examination ad, al-Musawwar 1931
Remember your eyes is a light nudge about a check-up put off, and the ad names the repair, a test once a year, and removes its cost with free advice from a certified expert.
Bits of careless talk wartime security poster
Fragments anyone might say, Convoy sails for, tonight, England, are fitted together by a hand with a swastika ring, showing the specific cost of a slip while blaming the habit, not the person.
Colgate toothpaste ad, al-Musawwar 1932
After the blunt 'your teeth decay because you neglect them', the copy makes the lapse specific and fixable: the brush misses the gaps, ordinary paste is not enough, and Colgate's foam reaches them.
The woman's straw pulls ships marked SUGAR into her glass while troopships head to war, and the copy counts the cost, 400 million lbs for your beverages, then asks only for fewer sweetened drinks.
Masafi: fruit juice carved into the sweet treat it replaces
The line 100% natural treats with 0% guilt names a light, specific lapse, the sweet treat, and the mango peel carved into a cone shows the repair: keep the treat, choose the fruit.
Hitler's face is built from a spoiled sheet, a pen nib, a clip, nails and a washer, so the cost of each scrap is concrete, and 'CONSERVE MATERIAL' gives the repair in the largest type.
Al Ain Zoo: a tap sticker turns saved water into a saved animal
A sticker beside the running tap shows its pipe draining a wild animal, naming the lapse where it happens, and the line turns the repair into a gain: what you could save.
"Don't kill our wild life" WPA poster, 1936-40
Seen from the driver's seat, the doe and fawn are caught one second before impact, so the lapse is specific and still repairable, and DON'T KILL OUR WILD LIFE names the repair.
Kinokuniya: book boxsets sized by kilos of CO2 offset
Each box names the social media hours behind its CO2, 14 hours for one kilo, and offers a specific repair: books whose reading time matches those hours.
Agency house ad on the O'Sullivan case: Which One Are You?
The close turns the O'Sullivan case on the reader, asking whether one person in four in New York knows the want his product supplies: a specific lapse the heel campaign shows is repairable.
Egyptian Food Bank Ad - The Hunger Series 2 - Ramadan 2014
The lapse is named lightly, don't watch the hunger series in silence, and the repair is kept open: join the Egyptian Food Bank's programs and help write it a happy ending by 2020.
🌙 يمكننا جميعاً جعل الانترنت مكان أفضل في رمضان - Ooredoo
The lapse is shared ('ضيعنا الطريق'), specific to how the internet was treated, and repairable: pause, review ourselves, drop the negatives, and the child smiles again.
أسعديهم من أكلك الزائد بـ #طبق_عافيه_الرمضاني
The guilt is moderate and shared, 'في بيوتنا', names a specific lapse, leftover food every Ramadan, and comes with a repair anyone can try that same night.
حماسك لا يفقدك حسن أخلاقك! #اعتبره_ضيفك
The lapse is small and specific, rudeness in a heated game, and the repair is right there: welcome him as you would a guest, with the screen named as the cause.
اعلان اورنچ..رمضان 2025 "اتكلم كل يوم يومين" حسين الجسمي
It opens on a son telling his mother he may not make it, a specific, gentle lapse, then offers the repair: the hugs, and a recharge that brings gifts for his dear ones too.
لا يمنع طيبتك بُعد المسافة.. #اعتبره_ضيفك
The lapse is light and specific, harsh words online, and the repair is shown in every scene: treat them as you would a guest, with distance named as the cause.
Doing it wrong
Ads that make the Avoid mistake.
Have you really tried to save gas by getting into a car club? poster
The oversized REALLY calls the driver's bluff beside a soldier bleeding from under his helmet, so skipping a car club is weighed against a head wound: specific and fixable, but far too heavy.
Guilt heavier than the lapse
"You talk of sacrifice" poster
Setting the civilian's 'TALK OF SACRIFICE' against a soldier dead on the barbed wire, it shrinks the reader's complaint with heavy guilt and offers no act that could repair it.
Guilt heavier than the lapse
A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking poster
The sentence 'A careless word. a needless sinking' runs through a burning freighter and wounded men at the oars, so the reader must own a whole ship's loss, guilt heavier than the slip.
Guilt heavier than the lapse
A Careless Word, A Needless Loss poster
It ties a careless word straight to a young sailor's body face down in the surf, asking the reader to carry blame for a death: guilt far heavier than the lapse it targets.
Guilt heavier than the lapse
A Careless Word, Another Cross poster
The word 'another' beneath a grave cross hung with a helmet and ammunition belt makes the next soldier's death the reader's doing: heavy guilt, not a moderate, repairable lapse.
Guilt heavier than the lapse
A drowning man points out of the frame under SOMEONE TALKED, so the reader is cast as the possible cause of a death, with no named act and no repair offered.
Fear with no step to take · Guilt heavier than the lapse
"And if our lines should form, then break" U.S. Marine poem poster
The mirrored couplet FOR WE, NOT YOU, WILL PAY THE COST OF BATTLES YOU, NOT WE, HAVE LOST hands the defeat to the worker beside a wounded Marine: heavy blame, not a repairable lapse.
Guilt heavier than the lapse · Puts the problem on the reader
Second Liberty Loan poster quoting W.G. McAdoo, 1917
Weighs the reader's dollars against 'the lives of our sons', a heavy charge that makes any hesitation look like choosing money over a son's life.
Guilt heavier than the lapse
'Thank you for wasting food' Tojo anti-waste poster
Putting "Thank you so much, American soldier, for wasting food" in Tojo's grinning mouth turns a leftover into help for the enemy, a heavy charge close to treason for a small lapse.
Guilt heavier than the lapse
When you ride alone you ride with Hitler car-sharing poster
'When you ride ALONE you ride with Hitler' puts the enemy in the reader's empty passenger seat, a heavy accusation for a solo drive, even though 'Join a Car-Sharing Club TODAY' offers the repair.
Guilt heavier than the lapse
Are you playing square? poster
A giant soldier stares down at a motorist at the GAS pump and asks 'ARE YOU PLAYING SQUARE?', an accusation that names no rule broken and offers no repair.
Guilt heavier than the lapse
Every minute lost on this job poster
It turns each lost minute on the site into a dead soldier, a weight of guilt far beyond the lapse, though the repair it names, finishing the building faster for penicillin, is plain.
Guilt heavier than the lapse
Ethical Oil TV Ad - Saudi Arabia (The ad Saudi Arabia doesn't want you to see)
It tells viewers 'we bankrolled' a state that restricts women and asks why we fund their oppression, a heavy guilt that its two-word repair, ethical oil, does little to lighten.
Guilt heavier than the lapse
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