Edward Bernays

Businessman, author

• Born: November 22, 1891
• Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
• Died: March 9, 1995
• Place of death: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Also known as: Edward L. Bernays

Education: Cornell University

Significance: Edward Bernays was an Austrian-born American leader in public relations. He worked on campaigns for an array of organizations and companies. He pioneered the concept of using psychology to convince customers to buy products or accept ideas. He became known as the father of public relations.

Background

Edward L. Bernays was born on November 22, 1891, in Vienna, Austria. His parents were Ely and Anna Freud Bernays. He was the nephew of Sigmund Freud. Bernays's mother was Freud's sister, and Bernays's Aunt Martha on his father's side was Freud's wife. Bernays had four siblings. The family moved to the United States not long after Bernays was born. He grew up in New York City.

After high school, Bernays attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He graduated in 1912 with a degree in agriculture. He decided against a farming career and instead became a journalist. During World War I (1914–1918), Bernays worked on war propaganda for the US government. He was hired by the Woodrow Wilson administration to promote the war effort. He helped encourage young people to sign up to fight in the war. Bernays was intrigued by how propaganda worked and realized that he could use it to promote ideas other than war.

At this time, press agents helped promote products. However, the profession had a bad reputation. Bernays wanted to do something different. He knew that opinions could be molded. Instead of admitting that he was promoting propaganda, which had a negative connotation, Bernays used the term "public relations" to describe his work. He used the psychological principles put forth by his uncle Sigmund Freud to promote his ideas. Bernays figured out a way to convince the unconscious mind rather than the rational mind. He called this approach "the engineering of consent." He then convinced companies to use his methods to influence people into buying something or doing something without them actually knowing that they were being coerced into action.

Life's Work

In 1919, Bernays began his own public relations firm in New York. He quickly acquired a long list of clients and was instrumental to several societal changes. He used surveys and polls to determine public attitude about products. He also used endorsements from leaders, experts, celebrities, and others to strengthen his arguments in favor of certain items or ideas.

He worked on Calvin Coolidge's presidential campaign in the early 1920s. Bernays helped soften Coolidge's image by hosting pancake breakfasts and concerts. Calvin won the election and became president.

Also in the 1920s, Beech-Nut Packing Company hired Bernays to help it develop a way to increase demand for bacon. Bernays worked with a medical expert to come up with a plan for convincing Americans to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast. The expert consulted other doctors who confirmed that Americans should be eating a hearty breakfast. The study was printed in numerous publications and led to an increase in bacon consumption and Beech-Nut's profits.

In the late 1920s, he worked with Lucky Strike cigarette company to convince women that it was acceptable for them to smoke in public. He organized a demonstration during the Easter Sunday parade of 1929 in New York City. He asked participants to gather along the parade route and light up cigarettes, which he called "torches of freedom."

He also designed a Lucky Strike campaign that revolved around women's fashion. Surveys revealed that some women did not like Lucky Strike brand of cigarettes because of the green and red packaging. They said it clashed with their clothing. Bernays came up with an idea to make green a fashionable color. He paired with stores to display green dresses and other clothing items in their windows and organized social events in which only green could be worn. He continued his cigarette campaigns into the 1930s and promoted cigarettes as soothing and slimming. However, as studies began to link smoking to cancer, he eventually changed his mind and became involved in anti-smoking campaigns.

When the use of hairnets waned, he stepped in to help Venida hairnet maker. He launched a promotion aimed at requiring women who worked around machines to wear hairnets for their safety. This along with other efforts helped to increase the popularity of hairnets once again.

Ivory soap was another big client for Bernays. To help children see bathing as fun, he set up Ivory soap carving competitions. Since Ivory could float, he also established floating contests between different brands of soaps. To help sell more paper Dixie cups, Bernays used fear tactics. He used the principles of propaganda to convince people that all glasses were dirty and that they should be using sanitary disposable cups, such as the Dixie brand, instead.

Bernays worked with numerous high-profile clients throughout his career. Some of these included Procter & Gamble, the American Tobacco Company, the Hotel Association of New York City, General Electric, General Motors, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Time Inc., United Fruit Company, CBS, and NBC. In addition to running his firm, he wrote several books about his methods and taught the first public relations college course at New York University.

Impact

Bernays, called the father of public relations, pioneered the field of convincing people to buy products or accept ideas. He became well known for his successful methods and campaigns. By using psychological ideas from Sigmund Freud, Bernays was able to develop his own techniques to influence public opinion. Numerous companies and organizations consulted Bernays for his expertise on how to sell products and ideas to the public.

Personal Life

Bernays married Doris E. Fleischman in 1922. She kept her maiden name, a practice that was not common at the time for women. She was the first married women in the United States to be issued a passport in her maiden name. Bernays's wife helped him run his public relations firm. She died in 1980. They had two daughters, Doris and Anne.

Principal Works

• Crystallizing Public Opinion, 1923
• Propaganda, 1928
• Public Relations, 1945
• Biography of an Idea: Memoirs of Public Relations Counsel Edward L. Bernays, 1965
• The Later Years: Public Relations Insights 1956–1986, 1986

Bibliography

Colleary, Eric. "How 'Bacon and Eggs' Became the American Breakfast." American Table, 19 July 2012, www.americantable.org/2012/07/how-bacon-and-eggs-became-the-american-breakfast. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018.

"Edward Bernays, 'Father of Public Relations' and Leader in Opinion Making, Dies at 103." New York Times, 10 Mar. 1995, www.nytimes.com/books/98/08/16/specials/bernays-obit.html. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018.

Gregory, Erik M. "Edward Bernays, Uncle Freud, and Betty Crocker." Psychology Today, 6 Apr. 2016, www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-secular-shepherd/201604/edward-bernays-uncle-freud-and-betty-crocker. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018.

Gunderman, Richard "The Manipulation of the American Mind: Edward Bernays and the Birth of Public Relations." Conversation, 9 July 2015, theconversation.com/the-manipulation-of-the-american-mind-edward-bernays-and-the-birth-of-public-relations-44393. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018.

Held, Lisa. "Psychoanalysis Shapes Consumer Culture." American Psychological Association, Dec. 2009, www.apa.org/monitor/2009/12/consumer.aspx. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018.

"Known as 'Father of Public Relations,' Edward Bernays Molded 'America's Tribal Consciousness.'" Huffington Post, 6 Dec. 2017, www.huffingtonpost.com/ourpathscom/father-of-public-relation‗b‗12593278.html. Accessed 2 Feb. 2018.