Bernays: Hypnotizing the Consumer

Ever heard of Edward L. Bernays? This dude, a nephew of Sigmund Freud living in the USA, began his role as a "Father of PR" during the First World War. Like Goebbels of Germany in the sequel, he worked to manipulate public opinion through the clever and shameless use of government-sponsored propaganda. A lot can be picked up by reading his theories and following some of his projects, and also by checking into his 1928 book pictured above and to the left.

Bernays, using techniques of social psychology and market research, seamlessly moved back and forth from government to corporate sponsorship. This makes perfect sense: after all, is there any essential difference between government propaganda and corporate public relations or advertising? Either way, a large body with huge economies of scale commits monetary resources to shape how people think and act. Governments and corporations seek to sell something -- a war, a product, a brand, an idea.

If, however, the divergence between rhetoric, flash, and spin control becomes great enough, cognitive dissonance may shake the target audience's beliefs, threatening the manipulation campaign. People like Bernays could care less -- they move on to the next project. People like Goebbels go down with the ship.

After World War One, women earned the right to vote in the USA; but culturally, it was widely seen as cheap and vulgar for women to smoke, drink, act, dance, apply make-up, or otherwise exercise any personal freedoms usually reserved for men. Bernays wanted to change one thing immediately: women and smoking. Why? He wanted to help a client sell more cigarettes. Hence, he launched a highly successful Virginia Slims campaign, transforming the popular image of women smoking into something chic and wonderful, perhaps even healthy. Others worked to make women's ideal body image as sleeker to emulate the small but highly visible contingent of Flappers. Bernays et al. succeeded brilliantly! As late as the 1970s, Virginia Slims sponsored internationally televised sporting events, particularly women's tennis (think Billy Jean King). Ain't that nifty-fifty?

To Bernays, the "truth" was relative, and didn't really matter anyway. What mattered was how to redirect people to believe something you wanted them to believe, even create something out of nothing. In recent times, when exactly did the concept of WMD come into everyone's conciousness? How about the Axis of Evil? The techniques of propaganda/public relations are now as widely used by wildly differing types of insurgencies, Islamic plotters, and leftists as by the traditional right and center. Not to put too fine a point on it. . . . . but if you really want to know what's going on underneath the surface, maybe Bob Dylan has it right: Don't follow leaders: watch the parking meters. Follow the money trail. But follow the ideological trail, too.

It's after closing time. When I snap my fingers, wake up.