Maslow's Hierarchy

In 1934, Abraham Maslow proposed his theory on the needs of people in his paper: "A Theory of Human Motivation." In his theory Maslow discusses the level of needs for people and has created a pyramid scheme for these needs. The bottom level being the most basic need, Psychological, followed by, Safety needs. The next three needs go in order are, Social needs, Esteem needs, and Self-Actualization needs. In my example I will begin to compare the needs in Maslow's Hierarchy with that of the hilarious Geico Commercials. Geico uses many of its ads to convey the needs that people have for saving money by using Geico. In this first commercial the man sitting in sitting at the booth is conflicted with his needs and wants, especially with his decision in choosing Geico. Geico plays into this Heirarchy by making the need to save money on insurance almost psychological need (the most basic need), when it is in fact more of a Esteem need or Self-Actualization need. This advertisement method is effective because it triggers the audience to realize the importance of saving money on insurance (plus they are all really funny).
In my second example, there is another Geico short commercial that I feel plays into Maslow's Heirarchy. This short clip shows the money with the eyes revolving and the commentator is saying "you like money, well he is money." This plays into the Hierarchy because Geico puts an emphasis on how much you like money and makes it so that saving money becomes a need. Instead of being just a need of protection, the commercial plays into a more social need of love with the money that you can save. Not only does saving money with Geoice create a protection need, but also a social need.





By: Hussein Zayan