Men we’ve never heard of
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2025 7:16 am
Or at least his nephew. Sure enough, that’s what Edward Bernays was to Sigmund Freud. Although Bernays’ name may not resonate as much as his uncle’s, the impact he had on society was just as poignant. Edward Bernays, appropriately dubbed “the father of public relations”, was responsible for using Freud’s theories on behavior and the human mind to help sell more products. Thus, he forever changed marketing.
Before Bernays, marketing was largely based on malaysia mobile database showing the practical virtues of a product. He was the one to inaugurate the notion that to sell anything (from a brand to a public figure), it was best to link it to people’s deepest desires and fears. Bernays wrote “People are seldom aware of the real reasons for their conduct (…) We are governed, our minds are shaped, our tastes shaped, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.”
When I told my friends about one of Bernays’ campaigns, they thought it seemed far-fetched. They found it hard to believe that such small seismic movements in culture could generate such a tsunami of consumption. This is because Bernays understood that there was a link between culture and consumption that could be taken advantage of. He worked insidiously, so that the public received propaganda messages without suspecting it. For example, Bernays was a forerunner of indirect advertising in movies: during his long and famous campaign for Lucky Strike, he repeatedly got movie stars to smoke in their films.
Before Bernays, marketing was largely based on malaysia mobile database showing the practical virtues of a product. He was the one to inaugurate the notion that to sell anything (from a brand to a public figure), it was best to link it to people’s deepest desires and fears. Bernays wrote “People are seldom aware of the real reasons for their conduct (…) We are governed, our minds are shaped, our tastes shaped, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.”
When I told my friends about one of Bernays’ campaigns, they thought it seemed far-fetched. They found it hard to believe that such small seismic movements in culture could generate such a tsunami of consumption. This is because Bernays understood that there was a link between culture and consumption that could be taken advantage of. He worked insidiously, so that the public received propaganda messages without suspecting it. For example, Bernays was a forerunner of indirect advertising in movies: during his long and famous campaign for Lucky Strike, he repeatedly got movie stars to smoke in their films.