Trust
Ads and videos written to this emotion: 390. 259 make the Say move, 23 make the Avoid mistake.
The Emotion Map's entry, written for B2B buyers.
What it is
Letting someone hold something that matters to you, knowing they could drop it. Small, reliable moments over time earn it.
Where it shows up
Every stage, decided in small things: a report on time, a number that holds up.
Sounds like
"Let's start small and see."
Say
Accept the small start and make it reliable. Deliver when you said you would.
Avoid
Asking for the big commitment before the small ones are kept.
In consumer ads
Say: Accept the small start and make it reliable: a sample, a trial size, a guarantee kept over years, a first step the reader can check.
Avoid: Asking for faith the brand has not earned: the big commitment, the long contract or the lifetime promise before any small promise has been kept.
Doing it right
Ads that make the Say move.
Bank Misr savings account ad, al-Kawakib 1964
An open hand full of everyday coins and 'Entrust these small savings to us' accept the smallest start, and the circled 3% annual profit and 5,000 pound ceiling make the terms checkable.
U.S. Food Administration fair prices store pledge poster
The store signs a promise anyone can check: its prices will not exceed the Food Administration's latest Fair Prices list for the locality, so trust rests on a published list, not a claim.
Muwasat lottery building winner ad, al-Musawwar 1936
Against rumours the prize is never paid, the winner signs that he took the building debt-free on 9 July 1936 and cites court registration no. 2600, a record any reader can check.
Toothpaste ad, Fight the Film on Your Teeth for Ten Days
It asks only for a ten-day trial, pays for it with a free 10-Day Tube, and tells the reader what to check: how clean the teeth feel, the film gone, the teeth whitening.
Cutex manicure set ad, al-Musawwar 1925
For a coupon and 5 piastres the reader gets a set good for six manicures, so Cutex is tried against the scissors at home before a full set is bought at the pharmacy.
Little Leather Library book set ad, Mid-Week Pictorial, 1922
It puts the reader's doubt in the headline, is this offer too good to be true, then sends the 30 volumes with no money down and a 30-day return for any reason or none.
al-Qatra al-Ajiba eye drops ad, al-Musawwar 1925
Four headline superlatives are each pinned to something checkable, a government medal, Health Council approval, a named Mansoura lab and a registered mark, and 'try them and you will see' invites a 5-piastre test.
Little Leather Library Corporation ad, Judge magazine, 1921
'Send No Money' as display type, 30 days' trial with return at the company's expense, and thirty spines the reader can count answer the disbelief a $2.98 price for all thirty invites.
Tinctura Ferri Athenstaedt iron tonic ad, al-Kashkul 1925
Rather than ask for faith in an imported tonic, it gives the buyer one check at the pharmacy counter: refuse any bottle not in the eagle-crest box sealed with two yellow labels.
World's Dispensary Medical Association ladies' note book and calendar, 1908
Every wrapper lists the ingredients under Dr. Pierce's notarized oath, a claim any buyer can check, and the first step is a free calendar and a confidential letter consultation answered in plain envelopes.
Brooke Bond tea ad, al-Kawakib 1952
The ribbon, 25 years of service to the Egyptian people, and the line that times change but the tea stays excellent present a promise kept for years, then ask only for one packet today.
Benger's Food infant feeding booklet
It opens against its own sale, 'the best and least troublesome way of rearing a baby is by natural feeding', explains the casein problem plainly, and offers a free Medical Booklet before any purchase.
It shows trust kept over years rather than asking for faith: customers since 1986 and 1996 testify, in their own words, that the bank has never let them down.
في البنك الوطني عملاؤنا هم أساس كل ما نفعله
Trust is shown as kept over years, one customer counting 40 of them, and built from small reliable moments: regular updates, a branch nearby, staff who greet them.
It asks for trust in a new product by pointing to something kept over years, more than 45 years of Afia oil, rather than asking for faith in an unknown tuna.
ZED ElSheikh Zayed: ORA Ramadan ad 2024- Youssra
Instead of asking buyers to believe in a future compound, it lets the daughter of a family among the first to receive a unit walk into the take: a delivery promise shown kept.
تسوقي وادفعي بالطريقة اللي تناسبك #كأنك_بالفرع
It asks for a small, checkable first step: order online but pay on delivery once the box is in hand, so the buyer never has to trust the website with money first.
اعلان السويدي للكابلات رمضان 2025 "يدوم الامان" بهاء سلطان
The line يدوم الأمان منذ 1938 turns hidden cables into a record kept for decades, and the building with a lit family in every window shows what that record protects.
Doing it wrong
Ads that make the Avoid mistake.
Towell Auto: After-sales service you can rely on
'اعتمد علينا' asks the reader to hand over the car on faith, yet the banner offers nothing to check: no brand, genuine-parts mark, warranty or small first step.
Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound advertisement, 1882
Her portrait, signature and 'Woman can Sympathize with Woman' carry a flat 'Is a Positive Cure' with no testimonial or figure behind it, asking suffering women for faith that a face alone has not earned.
Macdonald and Co. insurance ad, al-Kawakib 1940
It hands the reader four tests for any insurer, then declares with no doubt that it passes all four, offering no figure or record a reader could check.
Dr Williams' Pink Pills advertisement: Warnings for 1900
Beside a counter checklist for the genuine pink package, it claims cures from paralysis to rickets and that no substitute ever cured anyone, asking for faith the ad never earns with evidence.
Maxil toothpaste ad, al-Musawwar 1949
It asks the reader to rely on Maxil to protect the teeth for life and calls it better than any other paste, with nothing but its own claims behind either promise.
Bovril dictionary page advertisement
Dressed as 'A LEAF FROM THE DICTIONARY', it defines Bovril as 'health, strength, energy', so the claims borrow the standing of a reference book with no proof or small step behind them.
Maxcel toothpaste ad, al-Musawwar 1949
The headline "Your own doctor will advise you to use Maxil" claims the reader's doctor's backing without any doctor saying it, asking for faith the ad has not earned.
It asks faith in the medicines on the strength of astronomical tables credited to a great astronomer and used by schools, accuracy that says nothing about whether Sarsaparilla or Cherry Pectoral works.
General Electric home appliances ad, Bint al-Nil 1951
Declares the GE badge the object of your trust across five costly machines, backed only by four adjectives and a dealer list, with no guarantee, trial or record to earn it.
Pall Mall Electric Association electric patent sock booklet
It frames the sock with fourteen doctors who vouched only for magnetism or electricity, not this product, so their names lend it an "absolute and positive remedy" claim it never earned.
Hadid Intishtad iron tonic ad, al-Kashkul 1929
It asks for faith with no evidence: on a page of court notices, a drawn doctor examining a frail young woman stands in for proof, and the only claim is 'the greatest renewal of strength'.
Athenstaedt iron tonic ad, al-Kashkul 1929
The tonic's only backing is a drawn, unnamed doctor in a white coat examining a pale young woman, so 'the greatest renewal of strength' asks for faith with no name, result or trial behind it.
It tells the viewer their trust is well placed, 'ثقتك في مكانها', without a small checkable step, a figure or a kept promise to earn it.
بوبا العربية: شركة تأمين صحي تستحق أن تضع ثقتك فيها
It asks viewers to hand over trust because a well-known man did, with no small first step to check: no coverage detail, network or trial, only 'global standards'.
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