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Michael Mead

COMM 320

30 September 2019

Packard and Advertising

The world of advertising is virtually inescapable. To live in a modern 2019 is to live in

constant communication with advertisers, if not in various forms of consumable media, then on

billboards or perhaps in person. Although most advertisements cannot hold an actual

conversation with their consumers, most advertisers know all they need to know about their

audience without asking a single question. When it comes to advertising, knowledge of what

makes a product worthwhile to another person is invaluable. Sales are made when the

salesperson is able to show a consumer that a product is worthy of expenditure, and the best way

to demonstrate this is to prove that the product fills a hole in the consumer’s life. The product

must meet a certain need that the consumer has. Luckily, advertisers do not have to take blind

guesses as to what their audiences need. Scholars Vance Packard and A.H. Maslow established

their own respective sets of needs that people strive to meet in their lives (Beeson, 2015, p. 57-

61). To demonstrate the correlation between advertising and the meeting of needs in an audience,

this paper will focus on two different print advertisements, and Packard’s eight hidden needs will

be employed to analyze how each advertisement draws on one or multiple needs to convince a

consumer to use their respective products.

A description of each advertisement is necessary to understand how they promise to meet

certain needs in their consumers. The first is an ad from the World Food Programme (WFP)

which features a picture of a young boy smiling with a bowl of food in his hands. Under the

photo is the phrase, “School meals change lives” (WFP, 2019, p. 62). The ad goes on to reveal
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the name of the smiling boy, Paulin, and the general message of the ad is that a donation to the

WFP will help feed hungry students who might not otherwise be eating lunch. The ad was found

in a June 2019 issue of Indianapolis Monthly indicating that the intended audience includes

people who live in or near Indianapolis, although the ad could also be found in magazines around

the world. The WFP asks for donations, indicating their intended audience features people with

enough money to spare donations to their organization. Subtextually, the intended audience

might feature parents who have a vested interest in keeping schoolchildren fed, and it could be

assumed that a fair number of subscribers to Indianapolis Monthly are also parents. The purpose

of this ad, at the end of the day, is to get folks to donate to the WFP. A deeper purpose could be

to give the viewer of the ad an opportunity to feel good about himself or herself for having

donated to the charity.

The second advertisement comes from Fifth Third Private Bank (Fifth Third Private

Bank, 2019, p. 35). It is an entire page ad that largely features a young girl at a beach being

swung around by what appear to be the hands of a parent or guardian figure. Above the girl is a

brief passage, written in the second person perspective, that details how Fifth Third Private Bank

can help “you” follow a passion, explore the world, and build a legacy “for future generations.”

The message in this ad seems to be that investing money in Fifth Third Private Bank is a key

move in being able to follow one’s dreams, provide for a family, and travel the world. Because

the message specifically mentions building a legacy “for future generations,” it can be inferred

that a target audience of this ad is parents. In addition, because of the picture chosen for the

background, the audience could include people that enjoy the beach and people who are softened

by images of adorable children. More specifically, the intended audience is most likely a

combination of the traits previously mentioned paired with not having a trusted banking plan
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already in place. All of this considered, the purpose of this advertisement is, first and foremost,

to get people to invest in Fifth Third Private Banking. Further than that, the advertisers seem to

want to encourage readers to follow whatever passions they have, to provide for their children in

the future, and to explore the world.

Now, with a working knowledge of both advertisements, analysis can begin. Starting

with the ad from the WFP, the needs met from Packard’s point of view would be reassurance of

worth and ego gratification (Beeson, 2015, p. 59). Appeals to reassurance of worth relate to the

way a product leaves a consumer feeling worthy and valued, and the appeal normally promises to

boost self-esteem in one way or another, explicitly or subtly. Appeals to ego gratification aim to

make the consumers feel good about themselves. While this sounds similar to appeals to

reassurance of worth, the difference is that feelings of worth come from an extrinsic source

whereas ego gratification comes from inside.

When examining the ad looking at appeals to reassurance of worth, the clearest case of

the appeal being made is in the phrase, “Your donation can make all the difference to Paulin”

(WFP, 2019, p. 62). Knowing that a donation could make that much of a difference in the life of

a child gives a person a certain feeling of worthiness, especially if the consumer really does end

up donating. A donation is a tangible way to show oneself and others that they have done

something for the good of another person, that they have made a sacrifice in order to improve the

life of another. The picture of a smiling Paulin gives the consumer a glimpse at what their

donation might do for a child in need, and the feeling of helping somebody in need is a feeling

that generates the perception of worth in oneself, that they are contributing more than carbon

dioxide to the world.

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However, the very same phrase mentioned above can also be used as evidence of an

appeal to ego gratification. The feeling of having helped a child in need can do more than merely

reassure somebody’s worth. It could make that person feel as though they are one of a holy few

that are charitable with their earnings, a thought that would make that person feel intrinsically

good. The ego is further gratified by the two other tidbits written on the ad, one claiming that

“School meals give poor families an incentive to send their children to school,” and another

claiming, “Every year, the World Food Programme provides food for more than 18 million

schoolchildren.” This lets consumers know that their donations help underprivileged children

earn an education that they might not otherwise earn as well as assuring potential donors of the

credibility of the WFP, all combining to create one giant ego boost to the ones that actually

decide to donate.

Moving along to the second advertisement, Fifth Third Private Bank’s full-page ad makes

two appeals that stand out from the rest: an appeal to creative outlets and an appeal to

immortality (Fifth Third Private Bank, 2019, p. 35). Appeals to creative outlets generally revolve

around the preferred pastimes of a given audience, passions, and hobbies that one might enjoy.

Appeals to immortality draw on an innate desire to leave a lasting impression on the world after

death, and more immediately, to appear young and fresh while living on Earth. Additionally,

having children and grandchildren who carry a family’s genes can satisfy the need for

immortality.

In this advertisement, appeal to creative outlets can be seen in the first paragraph of text

as well as in the photo used in the background. The ad communicates directly to the reader about

his or her passions and a world that they need to explore. In fact, the ad claims that Fifth Third

Private Bank is there to help users write their stories, meaning investment in the bank will help
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investors be able to pursue their passions in the long run. Similarly, the photo of the girl on the

beach with her parent or guardian serves to show the consumer what they might be able to do

with the secure banking prowess of Fifth Third Private Bank. Presumably, they would be free to

take their children to the beach and travel and follow their passions, creative pursuits that any

parent would want to take advantage of.

As for the appeal to immortality, this is best demonstrated in the line, “You have a legacy

to build for future generations.” Nonverbally, this communicates the message, “If you aren’t

investing in Fifth Third Private Bank, you are not doing your best to build a legacy for those who

come after you,” which would directly conflict with a need that Packard argues everybody has

(Beeson, 2015, p. 59). That message paired with the smiling girl at the beach draw heavily on the

need to pass on a legacy, monetary or otherwise, to future generations.

Both advertisements appeal to deeper human needs, as has been addressed, but of the

two, the advertisement for WFP is more effective at employing its appeals. In that ad, a direct

result of the consumers engagement with the ad was stated very clearly: “Your donation can

make all the difference to Paulin” (WFP, 2019, p. 62). That phrase alone could be enough to

secure a donation because the thought of making a difference in another person’s life reassures

the donor’s worth and boosts their ego, two rather large dopamine rushes waiting to happen. The

Fifth Third ad, while most likely effective in some capacity, satisfies needs in a more superficial

and selfish way. That ad is meant to make the reader put their money in a bank for themselves

and their family whereas the WFP ad encourages the use of money to better somebody else’s

life, a much deeper and more gratifying way to spend money.

As far as ethicality is concerned in these advertisements, neither is particularly unethical

(Larson, p. 43-47). Both offer the consumer a choice of whether or not to buy into their
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organization. Neither is factually misleading, although Fifth Third Private Bank has no way of

proving that their services will help a person travel the world or follow their passions. None of

the means used by either advertiser are so outrageous and vile that they could not justify the

ends, and vice versa. Even the ad about hungry schoolchildren does not make it out to seem like

not donating makes somebody a bad person. Everything about the two ads is ethical in its

delivery, its messaging, and its design.

Personally, through the process of learning about needs-based appeals in relation to

advertising, I’ve developed an appreciation for listening to others, finding out what it is that they

are truly searching for or “needing” in a given moment, and looking for the most appealing way

to meet that need. This could be in daily conversations, in improv comedy scenes, in band

rehearsals, and in a slew of other scenarios. Persuasion does not have to be unethical or selfish.

Trying to persuade somebody based on needs that they exhibit can be mutually beneficial for the

sender and receiver of said persuasion. The sender has the opportunity to help another person and

earn some credibility for himself or herself while the receiver at least perceives that their needs

are being met. As long as the needs being appealed are valid and real, there is no reason that an

appeal to needs could not work out to be mutually beneficial for the advertiser and the consumer.

This essay has provided an example of how appeals to needs can be made to effectively

persuade an audience of one idea or another. In advertising, or in countless other walks of life,

knowing how to persuade based on needs will most likely serve as a win-win for all parties

involved. The persuaders have a better chance of selling their products and ideas while the

persuadees have the opportunity to meet a real or perceived need of theirs. While the world of

advertising may be inescapable by now, consumers can take comfort knowing that advertisers

have their needs at the forefront of their marketing schemes.

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References

Beeson, L.L. (2015). Persuasion Theory and Application. New York, NY: Oxford University

Press.

Fifth Third Private Bank. (2019, May). Let’s write your story [Advertisement]. Indianapolis

Monthly, 9(42), 35.

Larson, C. U. Persuasion: Reception and Responsibility (2nd ed.). 43-47.

WFP. (2019, June). School meals change lives [Advertisement]. Indianapolis Monthly, 10(42),

62.