In 1957 Vance Packard published The Hidden Persuaders, his famous book about advertising techniques, in which he claimed that the products advertised, taken together, promised to fulfill eight “compelling needs”:
- Emotional Security
- Reassurance of worth
- Ego gratification
- Creative outlets
- Love objects
- Sense of power
- Roots
- Immortality
How much has changed? To what degree is the world of social media the inheritor of 1950s advertising as the means by which these needs are fulfilled?
