When I think of propagandists, I imagine a staff of shady psychologists and marketers trying to shift public opinion towards supporting some dictator's goal. That's not what Bernays, one of the fathers of modern day marketing, means by 'propaganda.' In fact, he stresses the importance of ethics and principles when marketing - regardless of the product or service.

Very interesting tale of how to use propaganda, which can be positive or negative, effectively. The narrative covers how various groups have invented and used the tactics effectively. Bernays, a successful propagandist for a wide variety of product producers and other influencers, "wrote the book" on what has become part of everyday life, namely the advertisement. The book is well written and an easy read, but don't let that fool you, propaganda is powerful tool to be used responsibly.

Même si l'essai date de déjà quelques décennies, il reste terrifiant d'exactitude et d'enseignements quant à la marche actuelle du monde et de la politique. Ecrit aux débuts de la télévision, ses conseils restent parfaitement adaptables à notre époque actuelle, et interrogent beaucoup sur certaines pratiques médiatiques contemporaines. Bourré d'enseignements en somme, mais terrifiant dans la vision qu'il donne au final du monde et de nos démocraties.

Bernays is famously overly optimistic about what propaganda is capable of. But the book is worth reading because it anticipates so much, from marketing to TV Tropes. He's a good writer too, so even when he talks about stuff everybody is already aware of, he presents it extraordinarily clearly and succinctly.

Edward Bernays is titled the father of public relations. Yet, even a grand acknowledgement like this dramatically understates the impact he had on the 20th century. Today's social media influencers could only dream of the scale of impact of Bernays.

Born in Austria, a twice nephew of Sigmund Freud, Bernays graduated with a degree in agriculture and then took up a role in journalism. This led him to help the administration of Woodrow Wilson to promote the idea that World War I would help bring democracy to Europe.

The effectiveness of this campaign convinced him to test how it would work during peacetime. He used the term "public relations", as the term propaganda had negative implications after the Great War. In his book, he also refers to his wish to rehabilitate the word, ostensibly "to propagate".

He titled his approach the engineering of consent, drawing on principles through his oft mentioned relationship with Uncle Sigmund. His method provided leaders with the means to:

"control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it"

His results were astounding. He promoted cigarette smoking among women by using the 1929 Easter Parade to promote fashionable young women with their "torches of freedom". Also associating the forest green colour of Lucky Strike packets as the most desirable fashion colour.

He was able to get 5,000 physicians to sign a statement saying a protein-rich breakfast of (say) bacon and eggs was better than a light one to help The Beech-Nut Packing Company sell more bacon, thus creating The American Breakfast.

The Dark Side

In the 1950s Bernays worked with the United Fruit Company, a company that had cornered the market on banana production from Guatemala through exploitative practices. This is one of the so-called "banana republics" often spoken about. In 1952, the government of Guatemala began expropriating unused United Fruit Company land to landless peasants.

Bernays's propaganda campaign greatly influenced the government of the United States to stage a coup to remove the communist leaning President and replace him with a nationalistic candidate.

Despite being a Jew, Joseph Goebbels became an admirer of Bernays and his writing. Later on, once Goebbels became Hitler's Minister for Propaganda, using these principles to create the "Fuhrer cult" and to fuel the growing antisemitism of the time.

The book is a small book and one with significant historical importance and value. The author's rather candid way of explaining manipulation as a technical skill set has now grown into a reputable profession. Many issues he promoted, such as the creation of the White House Press Secretary, are now an established part of life. Four stars for the originality, at the time, of its content.

I'm very impressed by this book, and how concise it is. I am very confused by this leadership thing tho. I'm also trying to figure out how "1950s" advertising being broken combines with surveillance capitalism.

So i give this 4 stars because while I know this book is very influential & I've heard about developments that have happened with these as decades went on, i need to learn more about advertising to say the least in order to gauge from there what's held up & why.

A classic that I'm embarrassed (as a practitioner of these dark arts) to admit I'd never read. Glad I finally got around to it.

If I'd read the original text by Bernays without the introductory chapter by Crispin Miller, I'd have rated this two stars, but the introduction helps put it all into a helpful context and framework that makes the subsequent original material much more potent.

Really not sure how to rate this one - it’s an interesting look at how PR and propaganda have developed but is slightly disturbing at times because the author 100% believes that the public need to be manipulated into feeling certain things for the good of democracy. Having worked in PR for a few years it’s crazy to think that the tactics used really haven’t changed in the past 90 years... worth a read if you’re interested in how it all works!

I think this short book did a good job of outlining the potential for propaganda 100 years ago. History has shown where Bernays’s ideas and predictions have succeeded and failed but I think it is an interesting look at how civil society and industry operate or ought to operate