Aggravation as a marketing tactic

There's a general understanding in marketing that pain is a greater motivator than pleasure, so you lead off your sales efforts with an identification of the pain your customer is feeling.

There is then a school of thought that says you aggravate this pain, and intensify it, so the customer feels increasing tension. This allows you to provide much greater relief, so the customer is more moved to buy.

It strikes me that aggravating the pain is a tactic which isn't very nice. It's like saying "I'll bet that wound hurts - let me rip off the scab, pour some salt in it, and smack it a couple times".

When I sit and consider this as a tactic, it appears to me that when you are attempting to build a reputation, aggravating the customer's pain is a counterproductive tactic. While you may still garner a reputation for relieving the pain, the aggravation of this pain seems like it would be a stronger connection in the customer's memory - so rather than recalling the relief of buying the product, the customer instead recalls the pain of your prior aggravation.

When you add into this mix the number of people who don't buy until they've gotten six or seven offers, aggravating the pain may be their only association... indeed, when you offer a product they don't buy, they may feel the added pain of not buying the product. They wanted the product to relieve their pain, but for some reason they didn't buy it, and now they have another pain association with your products.

Am I completely off base on this? Does anyone else have this same general perception, that aggravating the pain impedes brand-building?