"The father of PR" Edward Bernays and the theory of structureless control

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Perhaps if the "Father of PR" Edward Bernays, after graduating from Cornell University with a degree in agriculture, began to work by profession, the agrarian and food situation in the world would be different today. But Bernays went to Broadway as a press agent.

In 1913, a friend turned to him with an impossible request - to promote a play about prostitutes without damaging the reputation of the author and the theater. Bernays came from the very side from which troubles were expected: he created a public organization - the fund for the fight against venereal diseases, which praised Tainted Goods (this is the title of the play) as an instructive work. The audience and critics were pleased, and the inspired Bernays confirmed his guess; even “tainted goods” will succeed if approved by an outside authority.

How do we generally choose something from the variety that the modern market provides us with? One emphasizes individuality. the other is useful, the third is advised by experts. All these reasons 100 years ago Edward Bernays began to use, manipulating the masses and shaping our today's attitudes.

THIS IS AN ART

In 1915, Bernays undertook an American tour of Diaghilev's ballet. In Europe, Russians were not expected - the war had already begun there, and in the United States they knew almost nothing about ballet, especially about male ballet. How to explain to a nation that a ballet dancer is not the same as a pervert? And how to make her love this art? Bernays began with newspaper articles about dancers, composers and amazing costumes, then initiated a discussion about whether people are ashamed to be graceful, which interested clothing manufacturers. The new “ballet-print” models proved to be popular and quickly sold out. By the time the troupe arrived, the excitement was unthinkable, tickets for the performances were sold out long before the tour. The Russians were hugely successful, and the Americans fell in love with ballet.

For Bernays, this promotion has brought popularity and serious clients. His next project was work in the Committee on Public Information, CPI (Committee on Public Information) under the direction of publisher George Creel. Applying the principles of advertising. The CPI shaped public opinion before the United States entered World War I. The Bernays Committee was surrounded by brilliant personalities - journalists, human rights activists - whose propaganda convinced even the freshest immigrants who did not yet speak English to volunteer for the American army.

The CPI experience prompted Bernays to think about applying new knowledge in peacetime. Only the term for such activities needed a different one, without military associations - for example, public relation, "public relations". Bernays was not a pioneer here, the concept was formed a long time ago, and while Bernays was receiving his agricultural education, professionals were already working in the United States. But they had a different approach. For example, Ivy Lee, who worked for John D. Rockefeller, believed that business should present honest information: “My activity is not advertising, but sincerely and frankly, on behalf of business circles and public organizations, to supply the press and the public with timely and accurate information about objects representing value to the public. " Bernays went his own way: he realized that values can be determined by desires.

He was the nephew of Sigmund Freud

Here I must say that Bernays was better grounded than his colleagues in terms of human feelings and desires. He was the nephew of Sigmund Freud (even "two-time": his mother was Freud's sister, and his father was the brother of Freud's wife). Edward was born in Vienna to all the merchant Louis Bernays, who far-sightedly brought his family to the United States long before the Nazi persecution. In New York, he "got up" selling grain, which is probably why he sent his son to Cornell Agricultural College.

Of course, Edward knew what his uncle was working on. Moreover, he personally “brought” him to the USA: he helped publish an English translation of the “Lectures on Introduction to Psychoanalysis”, providing the author with a good fee, popularity for his ideas, and for himself a strong association with the famous psychoanalyst. The image of the "doctor" became even more harmonious when Bernays released several of his works: "Crystallizing Public Opinion", "Propaganda" and "Constructing Consent." But if Freud tried to "talk" the subconscious, then Bernays "talked about" him.

I WANT AND SMOKE, I AM A FREE MAN

In the late 1920s, the Lucky Strike cigarette maker (the same one that Redrick smokes at Roadside Picnic) asked Bernays to expand his target audience: in a society where women cannot smoke in public, there is nothing to dream of increasing tobacco sales. Bernays first appealed to the benefits of smoking! for the figure. “The surest way to cut off excess nutrition is fruit, coffee and cigarettes. Fruits harden the gums and clean the teeth: coffee stimulates salivation in the mouth and washes it; and finally, the cigarette disinfects the mouth and calms the nervous system, - confirmed this idea by the doctor George Buhan. But not everyone wanted to risk their reputation for the sake of a figure, and Bernays used a more disturbing image - freedom. The feminist movement was gaining momentum, the topic of equal political rights was relevant. Bernays picked it up not just anywhere, but at the Easter Parade in New York. He asked several models and actresses to join the procession, and at a certain moment to smoke beautifully. The reporters were on the alert; they were warned that a group of activists at the event would light “torches of freedom”. A precedent was set: the idols of millions smoked without hesitation, personifying freedom and independence. The taboo on smoking in public places collapsed, tobacco producers were calculating profits, and emancipation took a step towards gender equality.

IT IS NECESSARY TO BE MORE TOLERANT

The problem of tolerance was a real problem in Bernays' time. "Negro" - it sounded respectful, before the prohibition of racial discrimination there was still to live and live, so the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) conference was an extremely important and risky event. In 1920, the association's founder, Arthur Spingarn, asked Edward Bernays to run an advertising campaign for the convention to show that Atlanta was fighting for human rights. The fight was to abolish the lynching courts, the right for blacks to vote in elections, and to receive education on an equal basis with whites. Bernays was helped by Doris Fleischman, his colleague and fiancée: Edward worked with the press, Doris worked with those in power. Politicians hesitated, radical opponents of equal rights threatened, Bernays calmly devised a media coverage plan. The newspapers talked about how important people of color are for the economic development of the South, how tolerant the leaders of the South are towards people of color, and how they are supported by the leaders of the North. These publications were the first in history to highlight the political and social activities of the black population. The conference passed without incident. Before the birth of Martin Luther King, there were less than 9 years left.

SOAP TAKES CARE OF MY SKIN

Bernays has led Procter and Gamble for 30 years, from conventional product advertising to national programming. Promoting innovative developments, he conducted research, organized "soap-regatta for sailors and" bath days "for New York monuments; celebrities admitted to the public that they used" non-deodorized liquid soap "(there was only one on the market, so the buyer's choice was obvious). Talking about popular researchers, the journalists reported that "glycerin was added to the cold water for the motors" (of a certain brand, of course).

"EVEN" STARS "FOR HIM!"

President Calvin Coolidge (whose reign is called the "Roaring 20s" and whose name is also immortalized in the biological term "Coolidge Effect") Bernays's help was needed for about the same reason as his black citizens, the Head of State had to be reanimated in the eyes voters who considered him a sullen and grumpy. They arranged a breakfast with the president, having convened a popular bohemian to demonstrate sympathy. The "stars" arrived at the White House from the ship to the ball: by night train, after the evening performances. The First Lady defused the atmosphere, the guests helped (Al Johnson sang the song “Support Coolidge” on the lawn), the President, as Bernays recalled, “was completely numb, and nothing could excite his deathly face. However, the first person breakfast impressed the Americans. The newspapers wrote that “the president was smiling,” which means that the person is still alive, he also eats cakes and loves movies!

“DOESN'T HAVE A TV IN THE SENSE? WHAT'S THE NEWS?"

It is hard to imagine that radio has long been the entertainment of the poor. And selling receivers to the thrifty lower strata is a sure way to go broke, especially if you're new to the market. For example, the Filco company has been producing radio only since 1926, and before that it was engaged in carbon arc lamps and batteries. The head of the firm hired Bernays to increase sales of radios and expand the audience. More precisely, the inclusion of more solvent people in it. Bernays' plan began with the development of high-quality receivers - none before Philco. The main problem was with reproduction, and a concert of the opera diva Lucrezia Bori was organized to demonstrate the new sound. Everything was broadcast through new radios that sounded like a living voice.

National radio broadcasting as a whole expanded. The importance of radio as a news source was promoted, demand for good music was created, radio broadcasts and educational programs appeared. The radio was installed in libraries, music clubs were opened in the country. Philco opened the Radio Institute for Audio Arts, which soon developed independently. For the upper class, Bernays organized a party exhibition at Rockefeller Plaza: by equipping living rooms with radios with the help of designers, he encouraged the wealthy to make radio a part of their home, like a musical instrument.

In 1936, he began promoting radio as a "mouthpiece for free speech," which was later successfully transferred to national television politics. And the television was presented to the press at the Philco factory. Journalists sagaciously agreed that this novelty will change the future.

I ONLY TRUST SPECIALISTS

In the 1990s, Bernays, already an old man, participated in a television show, and the host asked him: "Dr. Bernays, what are you dealing with?" "This is the idea that people will believe me more if you call me a doctor." This was one of his favorite manipulation techniques: “If you can influence the leaders, you automatically influence the group in which they have authority.” Thanks to the “leaders,” Americans (and the whole world) began to eat eggs and bacon for breakfast. selling bacon, Bernays interviewed 5,000 doctors, and 4500 of them advised him to have a hearty breakfast.

Increasing the popularity of women's magazines, Bernays embellished them with pictures of movie stars. It was he who began selling clothes, dressing up in advertised brands of celebrities at social events. He was the first to correlate the car with male sexuality. He held the first fashion shows in department stores, putting words in the mouths of socialites about the individuality that needs to be conveyed through the costume.

And he also pushed to the masses the idea that you need to buy shares and get loans from the bank. In fact, these "speculations", which nurtured the most common human desires, have shaped not only the modern culture of consumption and commercialization of culture, but also the modern perception of the world.