Marketing Pain: How Culturally Framed Discomfort Shapes Consumer Value Perception and Brand Positioning Across Markets

Introduction: This research examined the effects of emotional sensitivity and discomfort-based advertising on brand trust, brand attitude, and purchase intention among Eastern and Western consumers. While emotional appeals are widely studied, empirical evidence on culturally moderated responses to discomfort-inducing advertising remains limited. Methods: An experimental design was used, consisting of 200 participants, with a 4 (advertising frame: control, social shame, fear, neutral) × 2 (culture: Eastern, Western) design, including manipulation checks, reliability measures, and focus group discussions to validate findings. The results of MANOVA indicated that advertising frame had significant effects on brand trust (F(3,192) = 506.36, p < .001, η 2 p = 0.888), brand attitude (F(3,192) = 447.88, p < .001, η 2 p = 0.875), and purchase intention (F(3,192) = 501.35, p < .001, η 2 p The results of mediation analyses performed with the help of the Process showed that emotional sensitivity had a positive impact on brand trust (B = 0.453, p = 0.001), brand attitude (B = 0.478, p = 0.001) as well as purchase intention (B = 0.900, p = 0.001), but these relationships were partially mediated by the perceived value (indirect effects: BT = 0.436, BA = 0.382, PI = 0.09. Results: These results were supported and elaborated by focus group discussions that traced how participants collectively interpreted and debated the discomfort-based adverts in their everyday cultural terms. Focus groups, rather than individual interviews, were used to foreground the social negotiation of cultural norms around shame and fear, allowing culturally specific patterns of emotional discomfort to emerge from group interaction. Conclusion: In general, discomfort-based advertising greatly improves brand results, whose effects are moderated by cultural context and mediated by perceived value. In theory, the research will build on Fear Appeal and Cultural Dimension theories by combining emotional sensitivity and perceived value in cross-cultural situations. In practise, it offers the principles of culturally-specific emotional advertising in order to increase brand engagement and consumer responsiveness.