The aim of the exploratory study was to answer the question of which categories of needs domi-nate in television commercials of material products in Poland, which of the activated needs make up clusters in the light of marketing practice, which of the benefits offered the most frequently accompany the arousal of different categories of needs, and what are the most important correlates of activated needs from the perspective of design features and scenarios of advertising. A content analysis of a sample of 418 spots was carried out by 10 judges, whose reliability was psychometrically verified before and after the analysis. We adopted Maslow’s elaboration of his own theory of needs as the basis of taxonomy. Averaged assessment of judges became the basis of quantitative analysis, which showed the dominant role of lower-order needs in television commercials, the co-occurrence of higher-order needs, and their close link with the symbolic benefits (social, emotional and expressive) associated with advertised product brands and with the user image.