Buying Happiness

While looking at the basic principles of marketing, our class has begun studying Marlow's Heiarcy of Needs. My marketing professor said that current marketing tries to sell emotions and upper level intangible needs while selling something as simple as food or clothing.
He said this was new, within the last 20 years. I wasn't sure about this, and decided to explore it. Afterall, hasn't Coca Cola been Marketing Happiness through their beverage for years?
And what about Duncan Hines? They had this campaign about the more you care, the more you use Duncan Hines.
Time for proof!
First a Coca Cola ad from around 1910, selling a sense of belonging.


Next consider this early Cambells Soup ad. It stress the conveinece and taste of the soup, but does not go above the first to levels of Maslow's Pyramid.


The next Cambell's is from the 1950's and does sell the idea of being a competent housewife, which could be in the self esteem part of Maslow's pyramid.



Finally, we have two chocolate ads. The first is a simple picture dipticing a child holding a huge chocolate bar. What is the image selling? A huge chocolate bar? No, it is selling joy, happiness, and contentment, but it is not spelling it out.

Now consider the recent 2002 Hershey's "Happiness" ad campaign. The commercials featuring sets of "real" people explaining how Hershey's made them feel. Definitely selling happiness.


So, is selling goods through emotions new? No, but it is much more common, and much more explicit now than it ever was before.