Edward L. Bernays deserves recognition far greater than that which he receives. "The father of spin" documents the career of Edward Bernays, the man himself and the monumental findings that precede him. Bernays not only fathered public relations as we know it he also shaped molded and embodied ideal practices of public relations and spin in everything that he did.
Bernays and his studies did the unthinkable in that they were able to grasp the social, political, economic and cultural developments and to live on with a sense of timelessness.
The author Larry Tye describes Bernay’s in a very positive light. He organized the book in a way that outlines Bernay’s relations with various entities as the main points of "the Father of Spin". Throughout the book, "the Father of Spin" he attests to Bernay’s greatness and the extent to which he was important to society. One example of Tye’s praise of Bernays was when he spoke of Bernays role in maintaining the situation between the country of Guatemala and the company which was then known as the United Fruit Company. When in actuality Bernay’s tactics (producing many articles across the mass media about the communist influence in Guatemala) actually led to a brutal uprising against the government; Larry Tye described it as Bernays "(remaining) a key source of information for the press, especially the liberal press, right through the takeover….[ ] he gave the first information regarding the takeover to the public”. Larry Tye was not very hard on the negatives of Bernays and his practices and in that sense the book may appear somewhat one-sided.
Though Larry Tye casts Edward Bernays in a positively biased light, I still agree with his argument more than I disagree with it. I only disagree to the extent to which he was praised because from what I have read Bernays is motivated only by money and rarely morality and discretion in the sense of people’s health and safety.
Bernays was very beneficial to society and many of the things that Larry Tye said about him have very strong support. As relayed by Larry Tye, Edward Bernay’s genius is undeniable. He is able to correlate ideas and concepts with products and services in order to expand business. When Tye writes of how Bernays acquired his first real “CEO” job as co-president of two medical papers that his friends father had given to them.
Newsom, D., Turk, J., & Kruckeberg, D. (2013). This Is PR: The Realities of Public Relations
Tilson, D. (1997). Toxic Sludge is Good for You! Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry (Book). World Communication, 26(1), 62.
Often Advertising uses persuasion to inform the audience; in fact it is the most import aspect to advertising. Advertising would simply be a conversation between the communicator and their recipients if persuasion weren’t present. Although the basic purposes are to inform and persuade, it is left to the audience when it comes to differentiating between factual information and unethical persuasive tactics. The persuader, wishes for the consumer to act or believe in a certain way. Whether sought after actions are positive or negative, ends up being the question. In the modern world it has become more difficult to differentiate between truths and untruths; mainly due to the technological advances in advertising medium. Differentiating between facts and propaganda becomes increasingly more challenging when it comes to politics. Whether it is an election for student senate or the United States general election for Presidency; there are a lot of factors weighing in on the decision process. During an election year, persuasive tactics become essential in the success of a campaign. Although many voters have made up their minds when they are first bombarded by the political campaigning, these pre-developed opinions are not viewed as an impenetrable force by the campaigner. The campaigner typically recognizes these patterns in opinion and instead aims to persuade them from a different angle, most commonly the emotions surrounding the issues rather than the issues themselves. This paradigm changed in political persuasion was first seen September 7, 1964 when a rattling ad for Lynden Johnson played over NBC. The ad now known as “Daisy Girl” forever changed political persuasion in advertising. With this change came the issue of ethi...
...steel business in the world. This boom of steel made Andrew Carnegie dominate in the industry. He supported the steal, elevated trains, and iron rails by his creation of the steel business. Andrew Carnegie used vertical integration, defined above, in order to make his business successful. Andrew’s biggest rival was John D. Rockefeller, who was the king of the oil industry. Though Rockefeller had tactical marketing strategies, he was demanding illegal rebates with the railroad companies in order to keep his business alive. He then had to pioneer a trust which meant that he would gives shares to trustees who hold the stocks “in trust” for their stockholders. J.P. Morgan comes into play with his finance capitalism, consolidation, and elimination. I believe that each these people had their own power and success and not one of them had better successes then the others.
Stauber, J & Rampton, S. (1997) Toxic Sludge is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry, London: Common Courage Press
In the book, Propaganda, author Edward L Bernays, who is nephew of Sigmund Freud, transcends the public relation industry. This short, 13-part instructional manual delves deep into the intricacies and usage of propaganda. Bernays claims that the public is in a constant state of manipulation. He argues that in order for a society to be highly functioning and stable, public opinion must be manipulated and swayed. While I find his claims disturbing, it was refreshing to read something so blunt. Bernays’ use of psychological techniques to work the mechanics of public opinion truly classifies him as the “father of public relations.”
Snowball, David. "Propaganda and its Discontents." Journal of Communication 49.3 (2009): 165-71. ProQuest. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.
The mainstream model of liberal journalism believes that it’s practices result in stories that are an accurate reflection of reality, journalist believe they simply hold a mirror up to society (Louw, 2010). In constructing a story, spin team must have an insight on how the society believe nowadays, and it’s not only to just follow that believe, but give society an option to consider another belief. Therefore the spin team need to understand their audience first, what is the best tool they can use as a strategy, how to talk with those audience, generate comprehensive media knowledge and the ability to spin current perspective. The public relations / spin industry is geared to planting stories in the media by using journalists to disseminate stories serving the spin doctors agenda (Louw, 2010). Nowadays, in developing a campaign, the role of spin team is very powerful. It’s not about how well the messages received to the public or remembered but becoming a share worthy and meaningful messages that shows empathy as well as emotionally attached with everyone. The Dove “real beauty” campaign shows a successful role of spin team, the...
Rich Cohen’s biography of Samuel Zemurray The Fish that Ate the Whale refers to Zemurray as America’s Banana King, because to the extensive amount of wealth and political influence that he accumulated while commercializing the banana fruit and making it America’s national fruit through his firm – United Fruits Company. However, some of Zemurray’s business practices were not ethical. He was known to frequently deploy the use of propaganda when he realized that things would not go his way. Zemurrays’ use of propaganda was not ethically justified since it was driven by the need to meet the ideals of corporate greed at the expense of nurturing a socially responsible organization that is keen on improving people’s welfare. Edward Bernays was Zemmurray’s spanner boy tasked with implementing the unethical propaganda campaigns. In his 1928 text aptly named Propaganda, Bernays seems to pre-empt his effective propaganda campaign by stating that “the intelligent and conscious manipulation of organized opinions and habits of masses is a necessity in any democratic society” (Barney 7).
helped create the new economy of capitalism with his book, "The Wealth of Nations", countries
‘He was, within his own field, the greatest in the world for a hundred years’.
PRATKANIS, Anthony and ARONSON, Elliot. Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion . New York : W.H. Freeman and Company, 1991.
The history of the career field of public relations all started when Julius Caesar hired a team to persuade the citizens that he was doing a good job running the area. Caesar’s influence led to public relations in the Unite States beginning in the 1800’s. Newspapers ran friendly columns to reward advertisers with “free publicity.” Then, in the 20th century, the official job title of “public relations specialist” came into play. Those first public relations specialists were publicity agents and mostly former journalists (Mogel). Now, having a career in public relations most nearly means that a person has the job of creating publicity for a specific brand or person (Lila B. Stair).
The discipline of public relations is a modern profession which has been in existence for only close to a century; however, it has already taken an important role in the fields of business, government, entertainment and non-profit organizations including educational institutions and healthcare organizations. Public relations professionals are required to have excellent organizational, interpersonal and communication skills and have the ability to persuade the public. It is imperative for PR professionals to effectively communicate with its public in order to establish and maintain a positive relationship. Furthermore, public relations professionals must have the ability to work under pressure and effectively manage crisis which may have detrimental effect on the company and the public it serves. State purpose of paper and an overview of what will be covered in the introduction
"The Rise of Modern Propaganda." The Rise of Modern Propaganda. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2014. (TROMP p. #)