Which of Maslows hierarchy of needs can best be described by the armys old slogan Be all that you can be?

The public relations industry helps companies and other organizations communicate with the public strategically and effectively. To accomplish this goal, public relations writers are often guided by the principles of Abraham Maslow, whose theories about motivation have influenced generations of psychologists. Maslow believed that human needs could be ranked in order from the most basic and primal to the most refined and sophisticated.

Maslow's Pyramid

1. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is arranged into a pyramid of either five or seven levels. The five-level version includes physiological needs such as food and water, the need for safety and security, the need for love and intimacy, the need for self-esteem and the esteem of other people and the need for self-fulfillment or as Maslow called it, self-actualization. The seven-level version includes all the same needs, but divides self-fulfillment into three distinct needs - the need for knowledge, the need for aesthetic experiences and the need for self-actualization or personal growth. Maslow called the first four levels "deficiency needs," because a person lacking any of these needs would feel anxious due to the deficiency. He called the top level or top three levels the "growth needs," because they are all about growing as a person rather than merely surviving.

PR and the Pyramid

1. Public relations professionals use Maslow's hierarchy to target the right message to the right audience. You wouldn't get far by pitching an aesthetic appeal to a hungry man, so the first thing you have to do when creating a PR message is to determine where your target audience is on the pyramid. A nonprofit operating a homeless shelter might talk about having a warm, safe place to sleep. This targets the first two levels of the pyramid - physiological needs and safety needs. A PR appeal for a retirement community might emphasize all the opportunities for socialization, stressing the third-level need for belonging. A luxury condo development might emphasize exclusivity, stressing the fourth-level need for the esteem of others. A resort that offered yoga and meditation classes would be trying to appeal to the need for self-actualization, the highest level of the pyramid.

PR Positioning

1. Public relations writers can help give an organization an identity by positioning it on Maslow's pyramid. Few organizations would want to be associated with just one level of the pyramid, but few can realistically try to appeal to all. The U.S. Army offers a steady job and free room and board, but the Army didn't want to base its image on these benefits because then it would only have been appealing to people focused on the lower levels of the pyramid. By using the slogan "Be All You Can Be" for many years, the Army appealed to the top level of the pyramid and positioned itself as an organization for people with dreams and principles, not just people who needed a job and a place to stay.

Limitations of the Concept

1. Although Maslow's hierarchy can be a useful tool for a PR writer, its has never been scientifically confirmed as accurate. Maslow believed that people only became interested in higher-level needs once they had succeeded in meeting lower-level needs. It makes sense to recognize that people who are struggling for survival rarely concern themselves with philosophy, but the concept of the "starving artist" shows that some people find self-actualization needs so compelling that they will prioritize them over lower-level needs. Maslow's pyramid can help in targeting a PR appeal, but it would be more accurate to think of it as a convenient tool rather than a proven fact.

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