Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Advertising

Abraham (Harold) Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist. He is mostly noted today for his proposal of a hierarchy of human needs and is considered the father of humanistic psychology.

Maslow postulated that needs are arranged in a hierarchy in terms of their potency. The lower the need is in the pyramid, the more powerful it is. The higher the need is in the pyramid, the weaker it is.

1. Physiological needs: The base of the pyramid is formed by the physiological needs.
The physiological needs of the organism take first precedence. These consist mainly of:

Excretion
Eating
Sex
Drinking
Sleeping
Shelter
Warmth

If some needs are not fulfilled, a human's physiological needs take the highest priority. Physiological needs can control thoughts and behaviors, and can cause people to feel sickness, pain, and discomfort.


2. Safety Needs: With his physical needs relatively satisfied, the individual's safety needs take over and dominate his behavior. These needs have to do with man's yearning for a predictable, orderly world in which injustice and inconsistency are under control. In the world of work, these safety needs manifest themselves in such things as:

Personal security from crime
Security against company lay-offs
Health and well-being
Safety net against accidents/illness and the adverse impacts

3. Love/Belonging/Social needs:
After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third layer of human needs is social. This psychological aspect of Maslow's hierarchy involves emotionally-based relationships in general, such as:

friendship
sexual intimacy
having a supportive and communicative Family

Humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance, whether it comes from a large social group (such as clubs, office culture, religious groups, professional organizations, sports teams, gangs) or small social connections (family members, intimate partners, mentors, close colleagues, confidants). They need to love and be loved (sexually and non-sexually) by others.

4. Esteem needs: All humans have a need to be respected, to have self-esteem, self-respect, and to respect others. People need to engage themselves to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued, be it in a profession or hobby. Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem, inferiority complexes.

5. Cognitive needs: Maslow believed that humans have the need to increase their intelligence and thereby chase knowledge. Cognitive needs is the expression of the natural human need to learn, explore, discover and create to get a better understanding of the world around them.

6. Aesthetic needs: Based on Maslow's beliefs, it is stated in the hierarchy that humans need beautiful imagery or something new and aesthetically pleasing to continue up towards Self-Actualization. Humans need to refresh themselves in the presence and beauty of nature while carefully absorbing and observing their surroundings to extract the beauty that the world has to offer.

7. Self-actualization: Is the instinctual need of humans to make the most of their abilities and to strive to be the best they can.

In Maslow's scheme, the final stage of psychological development comes when the individual feels assured that his physiological, security, affiliation and affection, self-respect, and recognition needs have been satisfied. As these become dormant, he becomes filled with a desire to realize all of his potential for being an:
Effective
Creative
Mature human being

8. Transcendence: Maslow also proposed that people who have reached self-actualization will sometimes experience a state he referred to as "transcendence," in which they become aware of not only their own fullest potential, but the fullest potential of human beings at large.


Products/Services/Ideas Vs Needs

1. Biological and Physiological needs - Food and drink adverts, selling houses or mortgages.

2. Safety needs - home security products (alarms, etc), adverts for insurance, home loans and bank or building society adverts.

3. Belongingness and Love needs - dating and match-making services, chat-lines, clubs and membership societies, life-style choices – diet, fashion. Advertisements relating to caring for others such as small children or pets.

4. Esteem needs - Need for attention – beauty products which will make you admired. Cosmetics, fast cars, home improvements, furniture, fashion clothes, drinks, lifestyle products and services. Adverts linked to winning or achievements – often promoted by sports personalities

5. Cognitive needs: Advertisements by travel operators etc.

6. Aesthetic needs: The advertisements relating to the sale of paintings, art, sculpture.

7. Self-Actualization needs - Adverts for expensive furnishings, posh ornaments, Open University, foreign travel sometimes offer the opportunity to find meaning to life. Fast car adverts offer the possibility of control and being the envy of others.

8. Transcendence needs: Advertisements to explore hidden energy and talent. To join different religious groups etc.

Single product targeting multiple products

A product can be advertised to fulfill multiple needs of Maslow’s pyramid. It’s to the discretion of the copy writer/manufacturer to target which type of need of the target buyers.

Example: Clothes.