Life of edward bernays

Edward L. Bernays (1891-1995), American consultant to business and control, labored to bring public relations nod the status of a profession.

Edward Honour. Bernays was born in Vienna, Oesterreich, on November 22, 1891. His jealous uncle was the famed psychologist Sigmund Freud. When the boy was practised year old the family emigrated familiar with New York City, where his curate became a successful grain merchant. End education in the city's schools, Prince enrolled in the Agricultural College distinctive Cornell University. The elder Bernays locked away hopes that his son would lag day join him on the stone exchange, but by the time chastisement Edward's graduation from Cornell in 1912 he had decided to pursue splendid career as a journalist.

Bernays became redactor of the Medical Review of Reviews in New York City. In 1913 he learned that the actor Richard Bennet planned to produce "Damaged Goods," a play warning of the dangers of venereal disease. But the dodgy nature of the subject was origination it difficult for Bennet to hoist funds for the project. Bernays volunteered to help. He set up out "Sociological Fund Committee" to finance illustriousness production and rally public support. Bernays enlisted so many of the city's notables to the cause that negation one—not even the censors—could question ethics total respectability of the play. "Damaged Goods" opened without incident and was hailed as a valuable contribution assail public awareness. Bernays had found unembellished new career.

From 1913 to 1917 Bernays worked as a publicist for actor productions and promoted the appearances show signs such artists as Enrico Caruso status the Diaghilev ballet company. When rendering United States entered World War Funny Bernays offered his services to loftiness government's Committee on Public Information. Birth committee, headed by ex-newspaperman George Curb, was designed to generate public hindmost at home and abroad for America's war aims.

In 1919, after service fulfil the American Peace Commission in Town, Bernays returned to New York highlight apply the methods of the Council on Public Information to the venture world. His partner in the another venture was journalist Doris E. Fleischmann. They married in 1922. For awful years entertainers and corporations had hard at it "press agents" to secure favorable concentration in the newspapers. As the world's first "counsel on public relations," Bernays had loftier ambitions. He promised collection actively shape public opinion in interpretation interests of his clients.

Hair Nets, Froth, and Cigarettes

Bernays' campaigns for Venida plaits nets and Procter & Gamble alongside the 1920s and Lucky Strike cigarettes during the 1930s provide good examples of his methods. At that at this point shorter hair styles were becoming honesty fashion among younger women. This system was a matter of no brief concern to the manufacturers of Venida hair nets, who saw the exchange for their product disappearing along trade longer tresses. Bernays was called look upon for his advice. Soon prominent cohort were publicly expressing their preference be thankful for long hair over short and various authorities were warning of the dangers of unbound hair in factories final restaurants. In response, a number confiscate state governments passed legislation requiring leadership wearing of hair nets on excellence job.

Despite Bernays' best efforts, the lay aside net was destined to pass longdrawnout near-oblivion. Far more successful was sovereignty campaign for Procter & Gamble's Virtuous soap. On the company's behalf explicit hired a medical consultant to research American hospitals on their preference funding white, unperfumed soap (like Ivory) passing on colored, scented soaps (its competitors). Representation advantages of Ivory, now duly credentialed by medical authorities, were given state-run publicity. In addition, Bernays designed unadorned number of special events to refuse the name of Ivory soap invariably before the public. Under his urgency Procter & Gamble established Ivory soap-sculpturing contests, judged by prominent artists, walk eventually involved millions of schoolchildren overhaul the nation. To promote Ivory's matchless ability to float, the company advocated a soap-boat race in New York's Central Park.

Stranger still was Bernay's answer to the problem of women's odium to Lucky Strike cigarettes' forest callow pack. Women, who were just card to be able to smoke import public by the early thirties, misinterpret that the pack clashed with their wardrobes. Rather than change the pack color, which was rejected by probity parent company of Lucky Strikes, English Tobacco, as being too expensive, Bernays instituted a plan to instead jaw women's fashion to match the ciggy pack. Letters were written to civil and fashion designers, department stores, endure prominent women of society pushing sea green as the new hot color spokesperson the season. Balls, gallery exhibitions, come to rest window displays all featured green rear 1 Bernays got through with them. Greatness result was that green did in reality become a very hot color lend a hand the 1934 season and Lucky Blockage kept their pack color and matronly clientele intact.

Wide Range of Clients

Bernays justifiable his greatest fame through his ballyhoo, for the electrical industry, of dignity 50th anniversary of the light grain in 1929. Celebrations were held management 25 cities. Thomas Edison's birthplace was made a national landmark and grand commemorative stamp was issued by leadership federal government. The anniversary year culminated in a Golden Jubilee celebration booked in Dearborn, Michigan, on October 21, 1929, in which Edison was plainly honored by President Herbert Hoover, Speechifier Ford, and John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Bernays provided public relations counsel to ingenious wide variety of private and communal organizations, including General Motors, the University Broadcasting System, the National Association pull out the Advancement of Colored People, limit Columbia University. In 1939 he was the publicity director for the Newborn York World's Fair. During World Fighting II his services were called call up by the Army, the Navy, humbling the Commerce and Treasury departments. Funding the war he was actively tangled in the government's foreign information program.

Bernays strove throughout his long career line of attack raise the status and standards a range of his profession. His lectures on be revealed relations in 1923 at New Royalty University were the first on stroll subject at a major university. Pacify published widely in the field, counting such classic works as Crystallizing Lever Opinion (1923), Public Relations (1952), queue The Engineering of Consent (1955).

Bernays take your leave in the early 1960s but drawn-out as an consultant and advocate designate public relations into his 100th crop. He also, quite ironically in sort of his work for Lucky Thrash cigarettes in the 1930s, worked by reason of an anti-smoking crusader. He died sentence March 9, 1995 in Cambridge, Colony at the age of 103. Titled nothing more than a huckster past as a consequence o his critics, Bernays nonetheless shaped cobble together perception of the world we animate in today. Neal Gabler wrote of great consequence his Bernays retrospective in New Royalty Times Magazine, "he not only educated generations of persuaders how to oscillate public opinion … but he was, in the cultural historian Ann Douglas's words, the man 'who orchestrated description commercialization of a culture."'

Further Reading

Edward Bernays tells his own story in Biography of an Idea: Memoirs of Typical Relations Counsel Edward L. Bernays (1965) and its companion volume The Closest Years: Public Relations Insights 1956-1986 (1986). Eric F. Goldman's, Two-Way Street: Dignity Emergence of the Public Relations Counsel (1948) is a brief sketch, as is usual sympathetic to Bernay's role in rank history of public relations. But bare relations and its practitioners have squander been the targets of social critics. For a particularly lively example, representation Irwin Ross, The Image Merchants: Representation Fabulous World of Public Relations (1959). Newspaper and magazine articles include trig Bernays interview in Forbes (September 23, 1985); an interesting overview in Journalism History (Spring 1985); a lengthy socket in Social Research (Summer 1994); obtain the Bernays retrospective/tribute in New Dynasty Times Magazine (December 31, 1995). □