Edward Bernays, having worked as a journalist and a press agent for singers and dancers prior to America’s entry into the First World War, was familiar with propaganda, the propagation of information or ideas, and its power to persuade masses of people. It was while working with the Committee of Public Information (CPI), however, that Bernays fully understood the power of propaganda over the masses of modern society. The effectiveness of CPI’s coordinated propaganda campaigns proved the great potential of propaganda for peace, Bernays remarked to an interviewer later in life. Fancying himself a public relations adviser, Bernays provided counsel for numerous clients that reached out to him for help throughout the twentieth century. To Bernays, propaganda, rechristened public relations, was more than promoting ideas or products; it was a tool that could be used to control modern society. Propaganda, through the stimulation of people’s irrational feelings and desires through mass communications, could “organize chaos” within human society and “engineer consent” from the masses. This, if done properly according to his standards, would result in happiness among the masses and thus a peaceful society. In this presentation, one will learn about Edward Bernays’ career, his published works, and its implications for modern society. Clients Bernays worked with as a public relations advisor include, but are not limited to, the American Tobacco Company, the Beech-Nut Packing Company, the United Fruits Company, Procter and Gamble, the NAACP, Enrico Caruso, Al Jolson, Calvin Coolidge, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Bernays' published works include, but are not limited to, Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923), Propaganda (1928), and The Engineering of Consent (1955). Through historical analysis of these details, the significance of public relations to modern society can be understood.
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