A shift of Intent

Chapter six of Stuart Ewen's, " Pr! A Social History of Spin" brings forth a ideas of the new age of public relations in the time of war. With WWI on the on the forefront, public relations agents shifted gears of how they viewed the purpose of publicity and how it they could use to it to affect the lives of the people. Ewen states:

" Now, in the crucible of war, contemplative humanistic ideals were giving way to a fateful brand of cynicism. People who had once believed in the ability to use "creative intelligence" to bring about a more humane social order were becoming dutiful technicians of mass persuasion, craven manipulators of consent." p126

Ewen's statement discusses how publicity moved from public relations experts making their audiences socially conscious into making them those who can be easily manipulated to anything. Unlike the progressive's of their time, who were often the investigative journalists these men chose to use the gift of public relations to turn the public into clay that could be easily modeled in their hands. The intentions of the men would slowly begin to shift into what public relations have become today.

The New Accent of Authority

The accent of authority in 1915 was the animation of the new "movie", devised by Commodore J. Stuart Blackton. In this "film pageant" it shows the bombardment and invasion of New York City and the horros that the people is subjected too. This is one of the first propaganda tools used at the turn of the century to persuade people by affecting their emotions. It plays on the notion that America isn't prepared to be in a war, therefore if we were to come under attack we would definately be damaged as a whole.

In the opening of chapter six, Ewen starts off with placing us at a "movie house." Immediately, right before the movie starts to show, a man casually walks up to the front of the stage and gives a speech. A very passionate speech about the war,

" While we sit here tonight, enjoying a picture show, are you aware that thousands and thousands of people in europe-people not unlike ourselves-are languishing in slavery inder Prussian master?" (Stuart Ewen, PR page 102)

This stunt may look random to most, however what the poeple do not kno is that this same stunt is happening all over the country in a very similar gathering of people.

While at the picture shows, you see the horrible images of our men falling short, bombs falling over the historic Times Square and homes going up in flames and a great deal more. All is to work on the emotions of the American people to persuade them into going into the war.

As you can see, this article was published in 1915. America didnt enter the war until 1917, i guess this type of propaganda had a major effect.

The Greatest Mother.

"The Greatest Mother" by Alonzo Foringer in 1918 was produced for the Red Cross and its second fund drive. Already an accomplished muralist, Foringer choose this composition because it depicted "tenderness and mercy." The founding principles of the Red Cross are displayed in the simply fact that it is not clear of which nationality the soldier is fighting for. The Red Cross itself was established to help the wounded warriors, regardless of allegiance.

But this "Mother" also is very similar to another mother in both meaning and composition. A mother from the beginning of many peoples faith and a mother as a subject of one of the most beautiful sculptures ever done.

The Virgin Mary as depicted in Michelangelo's "Pieta."

Notice the similar stance. Not kneeling but not standing. Both holding their wounded in their arms, draped in long, flowing robes. In both pieces of art it should also be noticed that the wounded are considerably smaller than they should be, thrusting more emphasis on the matron. And where as in the "Pieta" Mary looks down to her fallen son, in "The Greatest Mother" the benevolent nurse looks to the heavens for help.

A quick sampling of the Red Cross artwork of WWI distinctly portrays its female subjects as angels on the battlefield, looking to you to do what's righteous. It plays on many of our images associated with goodness in our very much Christian society. Perhaps this was never more on display that when depicted "The Greatest Mother" in the vain of "The Greatest Mother."

Immigrants in WWI

In chapter 6 of Stuart Ewen's book, PR! A Social History of Spin, he discusses the fear the American government, along with the general public, had with newly welcomed immigrants and who their allegiance stood with.

"Reflecting familiar patterns of xenophobia, there were also concerns about the loyalty of Ameirca's huge immigrant population." Beyond specific questions of German immigrants or of Irish Americans- who, on the whole, despised America's ally, the British- the dreadful reality of many immigrants' lives in America could not help but throw the allegiances of the foreign-born into question." (Ewen pg 105)

During WWI many Americans feared spies and "German sympathizers". Newly welcomed immigrants of America were considered by many to be non-trustworthy. Americans were skeptical about who their allegiances were with.

When immigrants came to America they were often placed in slums and found it hard to succeed in the "Land of Opportunity". The head of the CPI, George Creel, explained this best when he said, "We let sharks prey on them, we let poverty swamp them, we did not teach them English." Being new to a country that places you in the slums of their ghettos can make a immigrant feel a sense of loyalty to their mother country.

I think around this time Americans really began to fear the immigrants and a great sense of natioanlism arose. The African-Americans during this time now had new friends to join them in being the "black sheep" of America. Americans have a great history of fearing the unknown, or ones they choose not to want to know.

Place Your Add Here

From an add for Leslie's Newspaper stressing the importance of advertising, it is stated that “Labor strikes often are the result of misunderstanding and lack of interest” (Advertising and Selling August 9, 1919 vol 29, p53).

The article then goes on to inform the public on how to go about solving this problem, advertising! The reason being, “if the great American public has explained to it the fundamental facts of American business enterprise, the fog of misunderstanding will be cleared”.

Two things came to mind when reading this article; one was the irony of advertising for advertising. I do understand that at this time advertising in newspapers was just becoming a popular way of selling ideas as well as products but telling the people it will solve there problems seems like a falsity. The second thought was: did the public really believe what this article was saying or could they see through the shallowness? By this I mean, did they come to the realization that Leslie’s weekly didn’t want to solve the problems of labor at the time, they wanted to rake in money to fund the newspaper through advertisements.

Leslie’s was selling the idea that a business could be made to look legitimate and be put in a positive light by advertising in the weekly newspaper. To some extent it may be true and trust might have grown though advertising but I believe the main beneficiaries were the papers themselves.

"I Am Public Opinion."

"I Am Public Opinion" United States Gov't Comm. on Public Information

This was a message produced by the CPI, and contributed through the division of advertising. The article shows a woman standing with one hand raised, similar to the pose of the statue of liberty. She is wearing a crown which reads "Public Opinion."

Basically, the entire passage next to the this woman calls out each and every American to buy the U.S Gov't Bonds. She says

"But, as wise as I am just, I will judge you by the material aid you give the
fighting men who are facing death that you may live and move hand have your
being in a world made safe."

This was a strong message for the American Public, especially those who claimed to patriotism by simply talking. This woman known as the "public Opinion" reached out to each and every American, in such a compelling manner that it would become necessary for them to buy these "liberty bonds." Which war in reality "war bonds."

Lastly, this article or passage is a simple example of how propaganda was used to short circuit people's ability to think rationally. The emotion buttons were continually pushed in these propaganda images and articles. It did not explain the reason of the war, nor did it explain the exact point of these "liberty bonds," but it simply called the Americans to come out and buy these bonds, so that the soldiers may fight for freedom.

Mass Control Through Mass Manipulation

In Chapter 7 of PR!, entitled “Social Psychology and the Quest for the Public Mind,” author Stuart Ewen discusses the transformation of public relations as a craft of corporate and government mind control in America.  After the end of WWI, PR agents and theorists concluded that advertisement and propaganda could be used to sway the mass public.  In order to do so, they applied psychological theories to methods of advertising in order to influence the way people felt about things and play upon their emotion in crowds.  This ultimately changed publicity which was no longer based upon rational argumentation, but instead focused on the premise of “psychological manipulation” and “seductive appeals to the subconscious recesses of mental life,” (Ewens, 132). 

Ivy Lee, a founding father of public relations stated that “We must remember that people are guided more by sentiment than by mind,” (Ewens, 132).  This statement shows how these theorists undermined the general population as not having the ability to logic during decision making.  Robert Ezra Park also undermined the intellect and ability of the general public to make decisions based on logic reasoning.  He argued that the “so-called public opinion is generally nothing more than a naïve collective impulse which can be manipulated by catchwords,” (Ewens, 135). 

 

What Is Truth ??

George Creel like to call the CPI the "House of Truth." This nickname forces us to ask the question "What is Truth?" This question is at the center of any discussion about the CPI. Truth is Truth and for it to be truth there has to be an agreement on what truth is.

I believe that much of the CPI information was really "truth with the government's spin on it." Rather than convey facts from which the population could make truthful conclusions, i believe the CPI under George Creel eventually turned into an advertising agency promoting the war effort regardless of truth. surely they were quite successful. Creel and the CPI were very good at what they did:

"Acknowledging the already considerable power of advertising in American society, by 1917 Creel was approaching the conclusion that 'people do not live by bread alone; they live by catch phrases?' If advertising techniques could sell soap or face cream or biscuits, he reasoned, why not war?"

George Creel was actually confused about what his goal should be. Most soap or face cream advertising does not have conveying truth as its main objective and if a certain soap or face cream really is not the best, they are not going to tell you to buy some other company's product. The same was true of George Creel. In his desire to sell the war, I believe he was GeorgeCreel and the CPI said it was:

"Yet underneath this pledge of openness, an atmosphere of suppression was taking hold."

"individual critics of the war and wilson's program were rounded up by the government, often without warrants of arrest, hustled to jail, held incommunicado without bail, (etc)"

ignoring the constitution of the United States and high-minded principles of democracy such as expressed by Abraham Lincoln:

" (that) government is of the people by the people and for the people"
was no way to discover or communicate the truth.

Woodrow Wilson took pride in his goal of making the world safe for democracy. Yet, George Creel and the CPI as well as the Wilson administration were sinking as low as the enemy they were fighting in their disregard for the constitution and for truth itself. That fact is a truth that George Creel certainly was willing to ignore because He eventually got his priorities mixed up.

Phantom of the Opera the change of the people

“Phantom of the Opera “
Public Opinion:” the manufacture of consent” Walter Lippmann discussed the works on the Public. The actual Public had changed from time to time due to the different types of ideas and things that people heard about throughout their life time. The different aspects of life were told to us before we would actually see things.

“For the most part we do not first see, and then define, we define first and then we see. Walter Lippmann stated this in Public Opinion/ The Phantom Public Ch22. As children we are even told stories that we believe that we never got the chance to actually see. The stories that world was flat, then finding out by someone sailing around the world that it could never be flat.

Hearing was believing. We began to take on the nature that because words were said to us that basically meant that it was true and that is the way we should live. But In today’s society everything has changed due to the different types of media. It is the reason that some people base their life to the different conveying ideas because of what they see, because they are told and go off of just that.

Public opinion was changed due to the different ideas that others had in their head and due to the technology this made it even worse for the public. Ideas and aspects of life were all changed.

The Beast

"Reinforcing such sentimental monuments to the American war effort, images of
the enemy were built on a bedrock of fear, invoking an ineluctable climate of
xenopic paranoia. Many images portrayed an inscrutable enemy, lurking around
every corner, threatening even the most apparently innocent circumstances"

PR by Stewart Ewen

The Committee of Public Information (CPI) was created to publicize the aims of the war and unify the American people. CPI used many images that created fear among the American people to persuade them to volunteer in efforts towards the war. The pictures CPI used created the image of barbaric beast lurking around to harm the American people. CPI used a combination of advertising techniques and the understanding of human psychology to play on the minds of the American people. I feel that CPI's use of fear to persuade the American people is similar to the tactics used today by the media.

"Lift As We Climb"

In the article written by W. Livingston Larned " Advertising That Is Helping too Adjust the Labor Situation: A Tendency to Make Campaigns Serve Double Purpose." Demonstrated how it would equal growth and success if the advertisement industries, glorified the labor working men in America, by including them in their advertisements and posting ads of them working on the job because, "Labor is human" stated one of the foreman at a steel making plant.



In fact it would dampen the stress over the social issues, that the manufacturing industries were facing with their employees. During the early 1900's there were numerous strikes, held by employees. Manufacturing companies were cutting wages, firing employees, and not to mention they worked in unhealthy environments. While this was taking place the advertisement industry was becoming more and more successful throughout the social problems.





Larned commented on the issues and insisted that it would help advertisement, to show pictures of these factory workers and watchmen working instead of exploiting them. It would make the manufacturing companies more money because the workers feel some content because of the acknowledgement, and newspapers will indeed benefit from this change which equals more even more money for their business.


"The line of progress is through human progress. in any productive organization aiming at greater output, less waste, lower costs and higher quality, betterment starts with better workmen.


" So do not number your organization by hands. Count the heads and the hearts. Train heads. Win the hearts. The hands will then be capable and faithfully used in your service." ( L. V. E Estes, Printers Ink p. 129)

This quote from L.V.E. Estes is a great example of how employers should value their workers, it would create a better working environment for all.

"We Must Lift As We Climb and Leave No One Unnoticed"

A Happy Worker is a Better Worker

In W. Livingston Larned’s “Advertising That is Helping to Adjust the Labor Situation: A Tendency to Make Campaigns Serve a double Purpose.”, he focuses on the theory that if workers are recognized and appreciated for their good work, “it would give him greater pride in his job” (Livingston, 2). In a statement made by the foreman of a plant making steel products he stated that by showing appreciation, “it would stimulate to make better goods and to be happier at it.”

This theory may be true to an extent. Yes, everyone likes to be praised for doing a good job. However, that does not guarantee that a worker would work harder if he were shown appreciation. Many of the workers during this time did not work such hard, long hours because they enjoyed working. These jobs were a mean of survival. Many of them had no other choice. A pat on the back may not have been good enough to stimulate the workers to make better goods and “to be happier at it.” If anything a raise in pay would have gotten that response rather than appreciation.

RED CROSS CONTRIBUTIONS (Make this a Red Cross Christmas)

The Red Cross is known for it's many lending hands during wartime. This started in World War I and now has continued through the years adding the War in Iraq.

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq – For all service members, the possibility of crisis affecting their loved ones during a deployment looms as an ominous threat that cannot be easily ignored. Under already stressful conditions, incidents back home can be dehabilitating and cripple job performance, as well as morale and motivation. Seven thousand miles away from home can feel like a world away. Luckily, an organization helps bridge those gaps and ease worried hearts. The American Red Cross works as a stabilizer in the event of an emergency, helping keep military members connected to their families and providing peace of mind during trying times. To help families get emergency messages out to their loved ones, the American Red Cross operates a worldwide emergency communications network that is always operational. They also collaborate with military aid societies in the event that financial assistance is required due to urgent personal or family crisis. (www.agreaterfreedom.com)

VADs are known as (Voluntary Aid Detachments), these are volunteers that lend helping hands during war time, wheather on the battle fields of the wounded quadrants or back home in the states and cities of the mother land. In the Cartoons of Hatred article, "Make this a Red Cross Christmas" emplify the heart of the Red Cross. This theory of propaganda encourages families and friends of soldiers to support them during a time where there is no Christmas, to where a hint is spread during a time of death and destruction.

America For All

"Uncle Sam don't keer whether you is white ner black ner blue ner brown" is a line in the essay titled "America for All". A conversation was happening between two men who were friends; one was black and one was white. My initial interpretation of the reading was that its purpose was for recruitment into the sevice.

Then I saw the date; July 1920 and realized that WWI was ending. I was torn between a few opinions on this reading. Whether to take it as just two young men contemplating joining the military and trying to convince people to follow or if it had a deeper meaning; mostly because of the different races of these two men.

This was an essay written by Mildred Adele Barfield from Young Street School in Atlanta, Georgia. The picture in this document shows that she is a black girl. I think that this reading has more to do with the civil rights for blacks then recruitment.

From The Black Perspective

Most individuals are aware that literature and works of art created by African Americans was not recognized until the early 19th Century. During the Harlem Renaissance, African Americans such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston would showcase their works on a wide-scale which has left a lasting legacy that can be seen today.

One of the avenues in which Blacks would display their literature during the Renaissance was through this publication called The Brownies Book. It was published by The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) under the leadership of W.E.B. DuBois. An example of the literature displayed in the publication can be found in the following:

"Tonight they occupied an obscure seat in a dark corner of the city auditorium. The band began to play "My country" and everybody stood up and sang. "Sam" said Billy Boy, "when I hear that song, I wonder if it is meant for me" (Barfield, Brownies, 195).

The snippet is from an essay which discusses a black male's dilemma which starts when he hears the song, My Country. Given the time period, blacks in America felt excluded in places such as the south in which segregation laws were in effect. The black character, Billy Boy is being encouraged by his caucasian friend named Sam to embrace being a proud American and to have a desire to join the U.S. Army.

Publications such as The Brownies Book helped to inspire a generation of black writers (James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou etc.) to write thought provoking novels and poems in which they are discussed in today's classrooms across the United States and the world.

The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays.

"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 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… "

Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928)

PR historian Scott Cutlip describes Bernays as "perhaps public relations' most fabulous and fascinating individual, a man who was bright, articulate to excess, and most of all, an innovative thinker and philosopher of this vocation that was in its infancy when he opened his office in New York in June 1919."

Bernays said that truth is the product of the "public relations counsel" forging existing "public opinion." And he readily recognized the ethical implications of his work, as witnessed in his later anti-smoking advocacy, after the dangers of cigarettes became known in the late-1950s.
For Bernays, however, the necessity of controlling the public mind was a crucially important matter confronting the better element, a group in which he clearly included himself. In his work, "Crystallizing Public Opinion", Bernays noted that the establishment of public education and the gradual extension of the right to vote caused consternation among western elites. The use of public relations techniques, then, was a way for the minority to " mold the mind of the masses that they will throw their newly gained strength in the desired direction."

War = Profits

One product that many take for granted is oil. We need it to operate machinery, cars being the most popular piece of equipment that individuals use on a daily basis. So if someone was to own all the means of production for oil, they would have an unimaginable amount of money. Operation Desert Storm was started up by the American government to stop Iraq from taking over the small, defenseless country of Kuwait. In a poor attempt to hurt Iraq, Kuwait lowered the price of oil, thereby lowering Iraq's profit.

But this trend did not start in the late 1980's to early 1990's. These "profit wars" can go as far back as the 1920's. America was promoting Thrift stamps and War Savings stamps to help soldiers that were fighting in other countries. But America is run on big corporations to help the flow of the economy. So the question is, "Was America deliberately pushed into the war by our captains of industry, for money-making purposes?"

"Our response to these questions is plain. Our democratic system of income tax insures that the rates paid by those who are most well-off are greater than those rates paid by Americans who are less well-off. Tell those who ask such questions, that all Americans are sacrificing to defeat Prussianism, to make the world safe for democracy." (PR!, Stuart Ewen, page 103)

Democracy is good, there is no question about that. If everyone were as wealthy as these CEO's of big corporations, we could have world peace. But that is not the case. The upper class gains profit, at the expense of the lower class. Most of the soldiers are either from middle class or lower class. Why should they put their neck out on the line for these big monopolies, who aren't going to help them out in the future. It's a backwards society, where poor individuals help out the rich folk.