Needs and Marketing Over the years some basic needs have become so standard for us consumers in the Western world, that other types of needs, such as personal development, have become increasingly popular. Nowadays it is normal for young teenagers to have a cell phone, whereas when we were 13 years old most of us had never even heard of a cell phone. Initially this was never a basic human need, but nowadays mobile phones are as much a part of our lives as regular food consumption. Is marketing the cause of these new needs? Can we also call them new needs, or is something else going on? To answer these questions we must first know what exactly a “need” is. If we adopt a social-psychological approach, we will find ourselves on the threshold of Maslow's pyramid. This theory states that people rank their priorities based on their psychological needs. Imagine the theory as a pyramid shape with at the bottom needs such as food, shelter and clothing and at the top we have self-actualization needs such as personal development. In order for an individual to satisfy a need, ...