Even though I have been inspired by some social movements and projects lead by amazing people such as Martin Luther King Jr – the African American Freedom Movement, Nelson Mandella – Apartheid, Dali Lama – Free Tibet, Gandhi - the salt march, Regan and Gorbachev - The fall of the Berlin Wall and even Luke Skywalker - Start Wars. I have also been fascinated and horrified by some other movements. I don’t mean terrorists as such like Bin Laden or George Bush but I mean people who are more subtle in their work and projects for social change. Those that treat us like brains in a vat as Cartesian thinking would have it. The person that comes mostly to mind in this case is Edward Bernays.
Edward Louis Bernays (November 22, 1891 – March 9, 1995), an American more commonly known as "the father of public relations". Combining the ideas of Gustav Le Bon and Wilfred Trotter on crowd psychology with the psychoanalytical ideas of his uncle, Dr. Sigmund Freud, Berrnays was one of the first to attempt to manipulate public opinion by appealing to, and attempting to influence, the unconscious. He felt this manipulation was necessary in society, which he regarded as irrational and dangerous as a result of the 'herd instinct'. Some may agree with Bernays sentiment however he didn’t use these ideas for social good but to the highest bidder. In the case of America and in following the American way it was big business. He believed he could make people want what they didn’t need by linking mass produced goods to their unconscious desires. This ultimately resulted in a new political ideology, even used until this day on how to control the masses. By satisfying peoples inner selfish desires, it was possible to make them happy and therefore docile and easily lead. This was the real beginning of the dominating individualistic community dynamic we find today in place of the previous more communal society.
An example in point: The Suffragettes and the Tobacco Industry
Edward Bernays was given the task by the Tobacco Industry to increase sales of tobacco. This was at a time where anti-tobacco lobbyists were starting to make inroads to the tobacco industry. At that time it was a taboo for women to smoke. Bernays had one simple solution to increase sales; to persuade women to smoke. First. he used his uncle Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis theory to find out what cigarettes meant to women. Psychoanalysis theory described cigarettes as the symbol of the penis and of male sexual power to women. So at a time of the rise of the feminist movement in America Bernays thought that if you could connect cigarettes to the issue of challenging sexual male power and he may indeed persuade women to smoke.
Every Easter in New York there was a large parade. This is where Bernays would strike his first blow for the tobacco industry using the feminist movement as his tool. He actually persuaded a group of young rich women to light up at a specific time during the parade. Bernays then contacted the media outlets and said he had heard there were a group of suffragettes that were going to protest at the parade by lighting cigarettes or what he called ‘torches of freedom’. He knew there would be an outcry and all the photographers and journalists would rush there to cover the story, which they did. By doing this he appealed culturally to the American ideals of freedom in a time of a great ground swell of support for the feminist movement. This event compelled those people who were a part and supported this movement to also engage in smoking in protest of male oppression and dominance. That if they too smoke they would be powerful and independent women. It combined a rational idea of justice with the emotion of freedom and liberty. Whilst smoking did not actually make women more free or independent it appealed to their emotional desires to feel that way. From that point the sale of cigarettes to women rose dramatically. The ensuing damage to women’s health and perhaps to the feminist movement have been witnessed until this day.
