Edward Burneys is the creator of the science of public relations, which is now called PR. By the latter is meant the conviction of people not by rational arguments, but by manipulation of the subconscious.
Birth
This man was born in 1891, on November 22, in a Jewish Austrian family. He was Sigmund Freud’s nephew by his mother, Anna Freud, who is Sigmund’s sister, from whose writings he drew part of his ideas.
Carier start
He started his career in 1915, starting an advertising campaign for Diaghilev's ballet tour of America. As Edward Bernays himself admitted, he did not understand anything in ballet at the time of the start of his advertising. He began to collaborate with newspapers, which provided news, photographs, stories about costumes of artists, composers. He went to meet the wishes of the editors of various publications, because of which they actively cooperated with him. In order to attract male visitors to the ballet, he drew up a handbook that presented biographies of dancers, notes, and asked whether America's men were ashamed to be graceful. He attracted American manufacturers to produce clothes according to the type of ballet costumes, while stores were supposed to advertise these products, which contributed to the great popularity of these costumes. As a result, all ballet tickets were sold out for a ballet that was not popular in America; there was a full house. This contributed to gain Burneys fame.
Prior to this, at the insistence of his father at age 16, he entered Cornell University, where he studied agriculture until 1912. However, this training from a professional point of view was not useful to him in life. Instead of farming, he began a condom promotion game to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. He gathered the opinions of politicians and made instructions on the game based on them, which contributed to its good sales.
From propaganda to the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud
During World War I, the propaganda school of Edward Bernays was not widely used. However, the word "propaganda" completely suited him, despite the fact that in peaceful life he turned to social psychology. When Austria was in an economic crisis with the help of his nephew, he published works on the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud in the United States. His PR skills contributed to the popularization of uncle's ideas, which were based on the analysis of sex. The interest in the activities of Edward Burneys is not individual individuals, but masses of people.
Examples of positive and negative activity of Bernays
In the life of Burneys there were both positive and negative moments in his career. An example of a positive moment is his participation in an advertising campaign in Atlanta, which consisted in the struggle for the rights of blacks (by the way, such treatment in America was considered respectful during Bernays times, but they were called so infrequently). During this action, he met his wife Doris Fleischman, who established contacts in Atlanta, while Bernays built contacts with the press in the north. As a result, conferences were held in which for the first time blacks and whites developed the status of blacks.
However, there were also negative points. One of these points was the introduction of a female to smoking. In 1928, the president of American Tobacco Company invited E. Bernays to stimulate an increase in demand for Lucky Strike cigarettes. At this time, women fought for their political rights, so Bernays used this in his campaign. As a result of communication with psychoanalysts, he established himself in the opinion that smoking by women is due to the fact that it was identified with men's rights. As a result of the campaign, female smoking bans in public places were largely limited. However, later, according to the memoirs of A. Sovetov, the first president of RASO, he repented of his deed and said that if he knew about the consequences of smoking, he would never go to this action.
Other facts from the biography
Bernays worked with General Motors, Procter and Gamble, C. Coolidge, E. Roosevelt. According to Life magazine, he was one of the most influential people in America in the last century.
During the First World War, he worked for the US Public Information Committee, whose main goal was to promote war as the only way to secure peace for democracy. However, Franco and Hitler, who turned to him as clients, he refused. He was also shocked by the fact that his book, Crystallization of Public Opinion, was Goebbels' handbook. He managed to step over all this and continue working on PR. The aforementioned book was the first on PR. Also at New York University, he first taught a course on PR even before the outbreak of World War II.
During the First World War, the word "propaganda" got a negative connotation, so Bernays introduced the term "public relations" instead.
According to this approach, he was close to an employee of the above committee, W. Lippman. He often refers to him in his work "Propaganda."
Bernays liked to use authorities to manipulate public opinion. He said that if you influence the authorities, it automatically affects the groups of people who are influenced by these authorities. One of Bernays' actions was aimed at replacing the light American breakfast, which was adopted in those days, with a solid one. He talked with one doctor who was treating him, then asked him to ask 5000 of his colleagues if they agree that a hearty breakfast is better than an easy one. After 4,500 doctors replied “yes,” Bernays organized newspaper publications of this information, with the result that sales of fried eggs and bacon went up sharply.
At 80, he continued to give lectures on PR. He lived for more than a century, died in 1995, on Victory Day, May 9.
Bibliography
Despite the fact that the books of Edward Bernays were written a long time ago, they do not lose their relevance today. Such publications as “Propaganda” and “Crystallization of Public Opinion” remain highly popular, which will be examined in more detail. Many states continue to reprint the works of this person to this day.
"Propaganda" by E. Bernays
This book was written in 1928. Its basis is the protection of propaganda and the use of public relations. Here is a narrative of propaganda methods that are used not only in public life, but also in politics. When writing this book, Bernays relied on numerous examples, and also provided a theoretical justification. It was this book that became the desktop for the modern White House. This book shows how the leadership of the state, as well as various corporations exercise control over the actions and thoughts of people, formed public opinion, views in various fields of activity.
"Crystallization of public opinion"
This book was the first in Bernays's bibliography. It was written in 1923. Currently, this work has become a classic. At one time, it was the first PR work as an independent discipline. It reveals the features of PR, narrates about specialists in public relations. He gives here not only his experience, but also the experience of psychologists and sociologists. Bernice's "Crystallization of Public Opinion" continues to be desktop today among PR professionals. This book was the first to demonstrate the social significance of the described profession and its scale.
The word "Crystallization" in the title of the book symbolizes the dynamics of public opinion, which is identified with the transition of a substance from an amorphous to a crystalline state.
All the methods and principles of PR laid down in this book continue to be applied today.
Finally
Edward Burneys became one of the founders of PR, although some believe that he arose before him, but he substantiated it from a practical point of view and created books that became desktop for public relations specialists.