Edward Bernays: Propaganda
Propaganda began in WWI.
Before then, it was not even in the Oxford English dictionary, nor did the word have a pernicious connotation.
The great Allied campaign to sell Democracy was a venture so successful, and, it seemed, so noble, that it suddenly legitimized such propagandists, who, once the war ended went right to work managing or exciting various publics on behalf of entities like GM, P&G, and GE.
Peace-time propaganda = advertising
We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never even heard of.
Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.
In theory, everybody buys the best and cheapest commodities offered to him on the market.
In practice, if everyone went around pricing, and chemically tasting before purchasing, the dozens of soaps or fabrics or brands of bread which are for sale, economic life would be hopelessly jammed.
To avoid such confusion, society consents to have its choice narrowed to ideas and objects brought to its attention through propaganda of all kinds.
A presidential candidate may be “drafted” in response to “overwhelming popular demand,” but it is well known that his name may be decided upon by half a dozen men sitting around a table in a hotel room.
Different men rule us in the various departments of our lives.
The counsel on public relations endeavors to shape the actions of his client so that they will gain the interest, the approval, and the acceptance of the public.
His next effort is to analyze his public.
He studies the groups which must be reached, and the leaders through whom he may approach these groups.
Social groups, economic groups, geographical groups, age groups, doctrinal groups, language groups, cultural groups, all of these represent his divisions through which, on behalf of his client, he may talk to the public.
PR consists of finding what the public doesn’t like about you, and fixing it in a way that everyone notices.
Ex. A department store, hunting for the cause of its diminishing sales, might discover that its clerks had a reputation for bad manners, and initiate formal instruction in courtesy and tact.
An air of secrecy or mystery about a company’s financial dealings may breed a general suspicion capable of acting as an invisible drag on the company’s whole dealings with the public.
Le Bon, Graham Wallas, and Walter Lippman established that the group has mental characteristics distinct from those of the individual.
Because man is by nature gregarious he feels himself to be member of a herd, even when he is alone in his room with the curtains drawn.
Ex. A man sits in his office deciding what stocks to buy. He imagines that he is planning his purchases according to his own judgement.
In actuality, his judgement is a mélange of impressions stamped on his mind by outside influences which unconsciously control his thought.
For example, he buys a certain railroad stock because:
- it was in the headlines yesterday and thus comes most prominently to mind (availability bias)
- he has a pleasant recollection of a good dinner on one of its fast trains (intuitive heuristic/substitution bias)
- it has a liberal labor policy and a reputation for honesty (liking bias)
- he has been told that J. P. Morgan owns some of its shares (authority misinfluence)
The first impulse of the group it to follow the example of a trusted leader.
A thing may be desired not for its intrinsic worth or usefulness, but because it has become a symbol of something else.
Ex. A Rolls-Royce is a childhood dream, many successful people buy not for its worth, but for its brand and their past fantasies and associations between the car and the elite.
The old salesmanship: “Please buy a piano. Pianos are great.”
The new salesmanship: Reverse the process and indirectly cause the prospective purchaser to say to the manufacturer “please sell me a piano”
Ex. Popularize the middle class having a music room in the house. Then, the man or woman who has a music room will naturally think of buying a piano to fill it. It will come to him as his own idea.
The public has its own standards and demands and habits. You may modify them, but you dare not run counter to them.