Edward Bernays - "the father of public relations"

Edward Bernays invented the public relations profession in the 1920s.
-and yes, he is the reason that the public relations profession has come to dominate the world today.


He was the one who initially manipulated the masses into wanting things they didn't actually need.  HOW did he do this? -by linking mass produced goods to the unconscious desires of the public.  (-frustratingly clever really..)


Bernays successfully trained people into wanting things.  He lead people to believe that their desires should over shadow their needs.  By doing this, he successfully produced a new type of customer.


It's hard to believe that someone could help industry overcome one of the biggest social issues of all time; women smoking in public.  -But Bernays did it. Bernays purposefully made it his intention to stage a Easter Parade held in New York in 1929.  Through doing this, he successfully convinced industries that the best way to carry their message to the unsuspecting public was through the news and not through advertising.


He deliberately used young women to make a debut in society.  He sent a group of rich debutantes out during the Easter Parade in 1929 and after a signal from him, they were to pose whilst holding and smoking cigarettes.  When the story reached the news, the view on women smoking in public was changed forever.  The young women seen smoking in public acted as a symbol for freedom and independence.  This therefore suggested to women who believed in female freedom and independence (pretty much the majority of women at this time) that they too should smoke if they wanted to appear independent.


Bernays managed to make women smoking in public socially acceptable, with a single symbolic act.  Smoking didn't make women independent, smoking made women FEEL more independent.


It is through this example that we learn that irrelevant objects have the ability to become powerful and emotional symbols of how you want to be seen by others.


-oh and the conclusion of Bernays stunt? - Cigarette sales doubled. (well done Bernays...)