Difference between revisions of "Edward Bernays"

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Edward Bernays

Edward Louis Bernays (November 22, 1891 - March 9, 1995) was a journalist, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, a progressive,^[1]^[2]^[3] and an early innovator in modern techniques of propaganda and social psychology. He is widely regarded as the 'Father of Public Relations'.^[4]

Bernays was a member of the Committee on Public Information.

In 1990, Life Magazine named Bernays in its list of 100 most influential Americans of the 20th century.^[5]

Early life

Edward Bernays was born on November 22, 1891, in Vienna, Austria, to Eli Bernays and Anna Freud Bernays.^[6] His family emigrated to America when Edward was still an infant.

Anna Freud was the sister of Sigmund Freud.

Members of the Committee on Public Information, Edward Bernays is second from the right.(Man with mustache)

In 1922, he married Doris Fleischman,^[7] and they had two daughters: Anne Bernays and Doris Bernays Held.^[8]

Propaganda campaigns

Edward Bernays was a master propagandist. Among Bernays more well known campaigns are the following:

Working for the Beech-Nut corporation, Bernays helped to position bacon and eggs as the true all-American breakfast.^[9]^[10]^[11]
"Light’s Golden Jubilee", a celebration of the invention of the lightbulb.^[12]
"Torches of Freedom", Bernays set up an elaborate display of debutantes sparking up their cigarettes, meanwhile he made sure to contact members of the press to capture the moment.^[13]
Campaign for the NAACP, hosted first convention in Atlanta, Georgia in 1920.^[14]
Dixie Cups campaign in the 1930's.^[15]

Notable efforts

Among Bernays' efforts, his promotion for Dixie Cups is quite remarkable. Bernays leveraged the work of Freud and used science against the American consumer. To help sell more paper cups, Bernays created a "Committee for the Study and Promotion of the Sanitary Dispensing of Food and Drink",^[16]^[17]^[18] which is just as fictitious sounding as it really was. But back then, Americans had not see the massive use of science by progressives to achieve their goals the way we see today.

The Century of the Self

In 2002, the BBC developed a four-part series about Bernays titled The Century of the Self, which details some of Bernays' methods and some background in psychoanalysis.^[19]

Views

Anne Bernays, Edward's daughter, described his viewpoint this way:

"Democracy to my father was a wonderful concept, but I don't think he felt that all those publics out there had reliable judgment, and that they very easily might vote for the wrong man or want the wrong thing; so that they had to be guided from above. It's enlightened despotism in a sense."

She also recalled his frequent use of the word "stupid":

"The people who worked for him were stupid, the children were stupid, and if people did things in a way that he wouldn't have done them, they were stupid. It was a word that he used over and over: "don't be stupid". And the masses? - They were stupid."^[20]

Paul Mazur, a close friend of Bernays stated the following:

"We must shift America, from a needs to a desires culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things even before the old have been entirely consumed."^[21]

Bernays was just the man to make it happen.

Quotes

The following quotes are taken from Bernays' book, Propaganda:

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. ...In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons...who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind."
"“There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the scenes."

References

External links

Annotated captions of The Century of the Self in English, Part 1

[1] 'Glenn Beck': Progressives' Fight for American Hearts and Minds, Fox News

[2] Progressive Intellectuals and the Dilemmas of Democratic Commitment

[3] Power Systems: Conversations on Global Democratic Uprisings and the New Challenges to U.S. Empire

[4] Edward Bernays, 'Father of Public Relations' And Leader in Opinion Making, Dies at 103

[5] The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and The Birth of Public Relations

[6] The Unseen Power: Public Relations: A History

[7] Papers of Doris Fleischman Bernays

[8] PUBLIC RELATIONS PIONEER EDWARD L. BERNAYS DIES, Washington Post

[9] Freud's Nephew and the Origins of Public Relations

[10] Edward L. Bernays Beech-Nut Packing Co

[11] Bacon for breakfast?

[12] "Light's Golden Jubilee" (October 21, 1929)

[13] Edward Bernays, 'Father of Public Relations' And Leader in Opinion Making, Dies at 103, The New York Times

[14] Anti-Social Engineering the Hyper-Manipulated Self

[15] Silent Film Comedy and American Culture

[16] "Committee+for+the+Study+and+Promotion+of+the+Sanitary+Dispensing+of+Food+and+Drink" The New Yorker, Volume 74

[17] The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of Public Relations

[18] The Truth about Cancer: What You Need to Know about Cancer's History, Treatment, and Prevention

[19] The Century of the Self

[20] Century of the Self 1, 28:30 - 32:20

[21] Economists and the Powerful: Convenient Theories, Distorted Facts, Ample Rewards

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 * "Torches of Freedom", Bernays set up an elaborate display of debutantes sparking up their cigarettes, meanwhile he made sure to contact members of the press to capture the moment.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/08/16/specials/bernays-obit.html  Edward Bernays, 'Father of Public Relations' And Leader in Opinion Making, Dies at 103], [[The New York Times]]</ref>
 * Campaign for the [[NAACP]], hosted first convention in Atlanta, Georgia in 1920.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=g528Kuh8AdgC&pg=PA134 Anti-Social Engineering the Hyper-Manipulated Self]</ref>
+* Dixie Cups campaign in the 1930's.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bY9Zh7IK0F8C&pg=PT25 Silent Film Comedy and American Culture]</ref>
+===Notable efforts===
+Among Bernays' efforts, his promotion for Dixie Cups is quite remarkable.  Bernays leveraged the work of Freud and used science against the American consumer.  To help sell more paper cups, Bernays created a "Committee for the Study and Promotion of the Sanitary Dispensing of Food and Drink",<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=nhknAQAAIAAJ&q=bernays"Committee+for+the+Study+and+Promotion+of+the+Sanitary+Dispensing+of+Food+and+Drink" The New Yorker, Volume 74]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GarJLYMm3A0C&pg=PA59 The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of Public Relations]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ktdKDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT63 The Truth about Cancer: What You Need to Know about Cancer's History, Treatment, and Prevention]</ref> which is just as fictitious sounding as it really was.  But back then, Americans had not see the massive use of science by progressives to achieve their goals the way we see today.
 ===The Century of the Self===