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?