Passage V

The Influence of Public Relations

The popular breakfast of bacon and eggs are, historically speaking, a relatively new tradition in most of the United States, and its beginnings reveal much about the art of public relations. In the 1920s, the Beechnut Packing Company, wanting to boost its sales of bacon, hired a repute expert in public relations named Edward Bernays.

[1] Bernays considered his uncle's insights into the human psyche and they're unconscious motivations to be high-priced tools in manipulating the public to think and act in certain ways. [2] Bernays was the nephew of Sigmund Freud, "the father of psychoanalysis." [3] In his book Propaganda, Bernays suggested that if one could determine the "mechanisms and motive" of the group mind, it would be possible to exert indirect control over the public. [ 4] He termed this process, "the engineering of consent." (67)

Instead of recommending that bacon be advertised directly, Bernays suggested surveying thousands of physicians across the United States. (69) At the time, many people's breakfasts consisted of juice and coffee with either rolls or toast. Bernays asked a single question in the survey: is it healthier to eat a light breakfast or a hearty breakfast ? Most doctors chose "a hearty breakfast," which Bernays himself had defined as including bacon and eggs. Then, Bernays simply released the survey findings regarding the breakfasts to hundreds of newspapers and other media sources. (72) Beechnut's bacon market expanded, generating profits for both Beechnut and Bernays.

Bernays gained fame from his application of psychology to business strategy; after being hired by varied groups and corporations, became known as "the father of public relations." However, unlike Freud, whose work was promoted in the United States by his nephew, Bernays used his understanding of psychology to mask his clients' motives. His indirect approach is why some people today refer to public relations as the unseen power that shapes many of our individual decisions.