compelling needs

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?