Edward Bernays

• 

Edward Louis Bernays
Was an American pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda  along with Ivy Lee, referred to in his obituary  as "the father of public relations".He felt this manipulation was necessary in society, which he regarded as irrational and dangerous as a result of the 'herd instinct'.

•  One of Bernays' favorite techniques for manipulating public opinion was the indirect use of "third party authorities" to plead his clients' causes. "If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway", he said 

   

  

Abstracts of books, articles and 
talks by Mr. Bernays deal with 
the public relations problems of 
industry, education, the social 
sciences, labor, government

• The objective for Bernays was to provide government and media outlets with powerful tools for social persuasion and control.

"Bernays and journalistic giant Walter Lippman came to Woodrow Wilson’s aid in 1917 to reverse negative public sentiment about war. These two behind-the-curtain wizards were indispensable in helping the president whip gun-shy America into an anti-German frenzy to go “over there” for WWI. Bernays created the patriotic war slogan “Make the World Safe for Democracy”—an irresistibly patriotic mantra that America embraced..."                           

Applying this to public utilities, since 
government represents the people, the only modification of government attitudes and activities must be 
through modifying the people's attitudes through 
the engineering of consent. 

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.

 

                     

"How do you communiicate with 38 million people?"

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times has a nice quotation from California Governor Jerry Brown that expresses the essence of modern political communication:

"Noting that he followed actors into the Statehouse twice, Brown observes:
“A lot of this is theater. How do you communicate to 38 million people? You’re
not sitting down talking to them. So it’s gesture, symbol, the narrative, the
drama. Who’s the protagonist? Who’s the antagonist?”"

This 72 year old veteran of California politics has summed it up: Gesture, symbol, narrative, drama, protagonist, antagonist. A simple strategy for mass communication.