Applied Propaganda - Edward Bernays Principles Of Mass Influence And Persuasion

The serious student of persuasion can't go long without studying the work of Sigmund Freud's nephew Edward Bernays. You'll have experienced the work of Edward Bernays if:

You've ever eaten a "healthy" bacon and eggs breakfast, seen a woman smoke in public, had a drink of flourinated water, or considered a Dixie cup a sanitary choice for drinking water, you are experiencing the work of Bernays.

Consider this quote from Bernays for a moment to understand his construct:

"In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons … who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind."

If you haven't seen the exceptional series of videos called The Century of The Self by Adam Curtis. I'm including them below so that you can watch them here and experience the depth of the man I and many consider the greatest marketer of the 20th century. In The Century of The Self, you'll also see Tony Robbins and Werner Erhard, founder of EST, both tremendous persuaders their own right.

After watching this, tell me who is leveraging their inner Bernays best, Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain?

And, what mind viruses have infected your thinking in Bernaysian fashion. We'll talk more about memes and mind viruses in a coming post.
 

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