Crystallizing Public Opinion for Good Government

Edward L. Bernays talks about propaganda and its techniques in "Crystallizing Public Opinion." Any good government can be sold to a public with the right regimine and protaganist according to Bernays. Newspapers, movies, radio, and word of mouth were especially influential when convincing a community of a specific idealogy.

Bernays states the following regarding newspapers and advertising:

"He must, in other words, become the creator of circumstance. The circumstances which he creates must embody the basic appeal he has developed as the one to which his public will respond, and it must embody this appeal in the form of a happening which will be as important, or more important, than other happenings in that particular place on that particular day."

That statement is powerful when you realize how different points of views and emotions can be determined by creating circumstances of much importance. Bernay's had great technique in influencing public opinion. His techniques were to survey the public, study of physical media of approach and coordination of appeal to the media and the public.

How Advertising Can Help Win the War

"What can we do? We can demonstrate the power of advertising as it has never been demonstrated before. We can awaken in the American people the dream they have been looking for and asking for and begging for since the turn of the century. We can explain why the American way of life- with its bathtubs and pop-up toasters and electric refrigerators and radios and insulated homes- is worth sacrificing anything and everything not only to preserve but to take forward into a future more glorious than ever... If we do not sell the worthwhileness of winning the war, we'll never be able to sell beans after it."
Printers Ink, April 10, 1942


Here we see how the copy editor of the advertising journal, Printers Ink, is appealing to potential advertisers to make the most of the opportunity to sell the "American way of life" to Americans (fortunate enough to be safe) at home during WW II. The copy editor is urging advertisers to join the "gold rush" and use wartime to SELL THEIR GOODS ! Rather than hesitate for one minute to sell all sorts of products during the war, the editor is selling advertising's place in the war effort. As an editorial in the same journal is titled, it is advertisers' "TIME FOR AN OFFENSIVE."


The advertising world was just another part of the overall wartime propaganda campaign whose job it was to convince Americans of the rightness of war. Whether it be WW I, WW II, Vietnam, or the current war in Iraq, the need to SELL doubting Americans a bill of goods is ever present.


P.S. I think I blogged next week's reading accidentally, so, HOLD THESE THOUGHTS!

Providing For The War Is The Way To Go!

In this article/advertisement for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, the propagandists used their business in relation to the war. This was used as advertisement at a crucial war time and also admirable, because the CPI at this time was encouraging all to support their troops. This shows you how propaganda has a slick way of addressing the issue at hand while interpreting separate messages.

"And they are admirable, all these heroes of Signal Corps, whether serving in darkness or in the all too bright light of day."

The Brownies Book

In "America For All " the article talks about the benefits of enlisting in the United States Army during War time. The article in the Brownies Book is about two young men looking to better their lives and the way to do that is by joining the army. Surprisingly, to me the article talks about how a white and black person are friends in the twenties who share everything as a wandering pair. This was still a time of racism and prejuidice in our country and what's amazing is that they are best friends and they are both convinced that the army does not care about the color of your skin while sitting in on a recruiters visit. "Uncle Sam don't keer whether you is white ner black ner blue or brown." (195) The boys are awed by the way the recruiter talks and dresses and are very impressed with him. This convinces them that the "army is a swell place". This article today relates to people exspecially that are not as educated like the two young men. Recruiters are propagandists trying to sell you the idea that the army can offer you many great opportunities which is the truth. But you never hear the darker side of the truth. The darker side being that you are putting yourself in great danger and may die in the battlefield. Every good propagandist will do anything to sell somebody of an idea and this article shows me that military recruiters are the same way. They are going to take advantage of people who are less educated when possible and persuade them and anybody else to see their positive view point about joining the military.

Fourth Liberty Loan

In the Four Minute Men bulletin titled "Fourth Liberty Loan" their goal was to have their audiences buy war bonds in support of World War I. If you were patriotic then buying a war bond was of no question. Fear was instilled on buying war bonds because if not, ships could not be built, soldiers could not be fed, and guns would have no ammunition.

"Let's hit the line with all we have, and so shorten the war, save lives, save
money, save property, restore peace, enjoy its blessings the sooner, and make it permanent." (pg. 20)

Every good speech consisted of four parts and had to be four minutes long. First, was to grasp the audiences' attention. Second, facts and details about the war and need for bonds. Thirdly, stir up emotion and

sentiment. And lastly, summing up the need to buy bonds and

proposing the will to do what is right for the war.

In the suggestions to speakers there were rules about the loan campaign. With only three weeks to raise the bonds the Four Minute Men had to be overly cautious about their speeches. They could not raise too much hope or optimism, use simple language with pictures, and convince the audience using emotion to buy as many bonds as possible.

House of Truth

I loved this reading because this was what I was talking about before more when I was talking about "Out Foxed" Its so easy to see how the news stations all have there own view that they want to get accross. With all these comapnies being linked why would they want to take a view of something that would hurt there fellow compaines like for example disney espn and abc all linked so i doubt you would see them do anything bad about each other.

A publicity Bureau

During Wilson's presidency there was a lack of "national unity." Therefore Wilson had a social analyst to promote the cause of the war. The analyst was Arthur Bullard and his goal was to have organized propaganda.

"To accomplish this goal, Bullard proposed that the government should "organize
a publicity bureau which would constantly keep before the public the importance
of supporting the men at the front. It would requisition the space on the front
page of every newspaper; it would call for a draft of trained writers to feed
Army stories to the public; it would create Corps of press agents..... In order
to make a democracy fight wholeheartedly he resolved "it is necessary to make
them understand the situation" America must , Bullard concluded organize
"propaganda campaigns to make the struggle comprehensible and popular."

Wilson and Bullard decided to awaken the public with their interests. They decided that keeping the public aware of what was going on in the war would motivate them to support the war.

America's Army: For you and me!

From The Brownies' Book July of 1920 issue, young Mildred Adele Barfield's prize winning essay tells a story of two young friends (one white, one black) who look to join the army together but Billy Boy (black) shows some resistance to joining and needs the reassurance of his good friend Sam (white) that the army employs young men of any color. Once in the army, Billy Boy finds himself gainfully employed all the while seeing sight no doubt the would have never been able to see had he not joined the army. "Now, here I am. Oh, Boy, this is the life!" Billy Boy says with excitement for his new life. Many (including myself) seem to doubt that this was the reality for Black men employed in the United States Army in the 1920's or beyond. Therefore regarding this article as simply youthful rhetoric from a hopeful African American girl and propaganda from the powers that be to lure Black young men into the army.

Whose public opinion is it anyway?

"I warn you-don't talk patriotism over here unless your money is talking victory Over There"

-From I Am Public Opinion

What's frightening about this statement is that not only does it's messages promote a sense of being unpatriotic for those whom may not have had the financial ability to purchase US Bond, but that the ad comes courtesy of the United States Treasury. In this ad, the government uses the tactic of shame to say if you don't support this war and it's troops but purchasing these United States Bond, than you can not really say you support this country or those who are defending it. What's worst is that the ad claims that these notions are "Public Opinion" making them the be all and end all. But whose public opinion is this anyway? I'm just wondering because I would assume that during this time, majority of the public during this time couldn't afford these bonds.

Primary Documents

I agree with this article. In this article it is mentioned that war for newspapers are the most proporous times. The information doesnt have to be acurate because either way the story sells. I agree, because when the war in Iraq first begun it was mentioned everywhere, in papers, the news etc and even though the information was everywhere people still found excitment in the newspapers. For the newspapers even though it is sad to say "trouble times are the best for a newspaper proprietor." War is a sad and troublesome time, even though it shouldnt be for excitement or entertainment, it sometimes come across that way.

Manufactoring Consent

According to the article Manufactoring Consent, " Mass media serve as a system for communicating messages and sybols to the general populace." The purpose of the media along with other things is to inculcate individuals with the values, beliefs, and codes of behavior thatw ill integrate them into the institutional structures of the larger society (pg 1)"

The media tends to control what is being showed to the people. It was also mentioned that news reportes can't be everywhere at the same time, do a decision is made as to what will be mentioned or given the proper media coverage. With that being said, the media is censured to a certain extent. And being the fact that we pick our government officials, we give them that right.

The House of Truth

Pg. 102 of House of Truth:

"If we are not vigilant, their fate could be ours. Now, then, do you folks here in Portland want to take the slightest chance of meeting Prussianism here in America? If not, then you'll have to participate in summoning all the resources of this country for the giant struggle. In addition to buying Thrift Stamps, and War-Savings-Stamps to support our boys overseas, we must also hold fast the lines here at home."

It is here where Virgil Williams, a local bank manager known to many in the audience at the theater, stands up between intermission and gives this speech to the people around him, letting him know just what is going on with the Great War in Europe. He is telling people, trying to put a scare into them, that, if they want to say save and not have to deal with Prussianism here in the United States, then they're going to have to support the war and our boys who are fighting the war. He was sending a message to the people around him that they should support the war, whether they wanted to or not because if they didn't and if they didn 't buy thrift stamps and war-savings-stamps, then they themselves would be introduced first hand to what our boys fighting the war have been going through all this time, and though many people didn't support the war, they didn't want that.

House of Truth of yesterday and today

"The ‘House of Truth’ as Creel called the CPI, was extraordinarily sophisticated and far reaching, providing an unequaled laboratory for pursuing local, national, and international publicity work." (p. 111)

George Creel and the CPI persuaded Americans to support the war of Democracy. Creel was a notable Investigative Journalist. His means of persuasion were by giving the public information in newspapers (ex: the Official Bulletin) and any other media source he could get his hands on. Why did he use these media sources as a way of persuasion? It seems to me that Creel did this to show the public that they were getting something for free. The latest information made available. But in reality he was using a way of manipulation to get the public to support the war.

We sort of have that belief system today in the media. As the public, we know to open up a newspaper or to turn on the television to get our information. What most people do not realize is that a lot of these news organizations have some sort of persuasion in their program or article. Commentator programs are an excellent example of this.

To compare, just turn on Fox News and MSNBC. Two completely different opinions but again persuasive in their own ways. You also must consider what large corporations own these news organizations as well. Today’s ‘House of Truth’ could be the entire media industry all rolled into one. The question still remains though. Are they always telling the truth or is it just to feed us persuasive information?

Rupert Murdoch is the chairman and managing director of News Corporation. Please take a look at his political beliefs in the link that I have provided. You should have a better understanding of why Fox News is the way it is.

House of Truth?

As learned from and discussed thus far in this class, it is difficult to find an objective propagandist. In "House of Truth" the author writes, "The unprecedented creation of the CPI-a comprehensive propaganda bureau inteded to mobilize and channel popular enthusiasm-reflected a general awareness of "public opinion" among business and political elites in the United States during this disquieting period." If the author of this passage's goal was to be objective, his rhetoric along accomplished that feat. The words used in this one sentence attest to the fact that subjectivity and personal opinion were not present. Words such as 'comprehensive-whole', 'intended to mobilize-meant to move', the use of quotes around "public opinion" all are used with intent to sell the author's view. Simply put, the rhetoric that is used in propaganda is used for a purpose, an intent to subconciously, as well as conciously, shape the readers' view on a given matter.

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Speak for yourself

I read "I am Public Opinion" which was an advertisement for U.S. bonds. This ad basically says that if you don't buy the bonds, you are not supporting the troops which makes you unpatriotic. It doesn't matter how much you say you do, if you don't give money then anything else you do is disregarded. I don't think that is fair to anyone. Not everyone is able to give money but of course they are satisfied with living in the safety of the U.S. I believe there are other ways that you can support troops and no one has the right to tell anyone that they are being unpatriotic because you don't give monetary gifts. It's not possible for everyone to buy bonds.

A Few Minutes for a Change

"Make the world safe for democracy! Hold fast the lines at home!"

The lines that needed to be held in America during the first world war, were those that the "Four- Minute Men" outlined for American citizens. These men volunteered for a career other than their elite own to protect and serve their government. Their job as a Four-Minute Man was to maintain home-front support for the military involved is this war. One hundred, fifty thousand, of these men traveled around their towns preaching about what needed to be said and done to enable a successful war. They strongly advised that the people should not allow anyone to tell stories of the war, and if they did keep a close eye on them because they may even be suspicious. After doing this the "right thing" to do was to send the names and any other information of these disobediant people to Washington. The Four-Minute man were only a piece of an organization called the CPI who's goal was to mobilize and channel "public opinion."

Public Opinion

"Photographs have the kind of authority over imagination today, which the printed word had yesterday, and the spoken word before that." Pictures, visual symbols, and images are very powerful. Pictures are a quick instant way of expressing an idea or emotion. Someone once said, "a picture is worth a thousand words". I feel this is true. These pictures or images help to shape peoples perceptions. It is often used to shape the publics opinion about things. The mass media knows this and frequently uses pictures.