Edward Bernays is considered the Father of Public Relations, the master at manipulating public opinion. And when it comes to public opinion in today’s world, nothing is left to chance. After working on the Creel Commission during WWI, he orchestrated public relation campaigns that are now legend. His mother was Sigmund Freud’s sister, and his father’s sister was Sigmund Freud’s wife. With a solid background in psychoanalysis from the Father of Psychoanalysis himself, Bernays also studied mass psychology from Walter Lippmann, who was the first to coin the term ‘Manufacturing Consent’. Bernays applied both disciplines of thought to public relations with a commercial intent hidden from public view.
Who else is more qualified than Bernays to have written a book titled Propaganda?
Public Relations: aka Public Opinion, National Will, Group Mind, and Social Purpose.
Propaganda by Edward Bernays, 1928
Father of Spin, Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of Public Relation by Larry Tye, 1998
Torches of Freedom - Women and Tobacco
United Fruit Company, Bernays, and Guatemala
Other catchy monikers for Edward Bernays:
The Baron of Ballyhoo
Sire of the Big Sell
Master of Mass Psychology
High Priest of Press Agents
Pontiff of Publicity
Pope of Propaganda
Prince of Propaganda
Prince of Puff
Lots of videos on Youtube relating to Bernays.
“The skillful propagandist knows that you must start with a plausible analysis and then stoke up energy by brandishing a passport to heaven.” -- Lippmann
Social Sets and the Organization
Media Control by Noam Chomsky, 2002
Lippmann and the Bewildered Herd
Manufacturing Consent by Herman and Chomsky, 1988
Tell the Truth - Mos Def - Immortal Technique – Eminem
Marketing and Psychology
Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen
