A nephew of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, Bernays grew up with dinner-table social science discussion prior to joining Creel's public information committee thus emphasized the contributions of social science to public relations.
After World War II, he became a science writer and then theater promoter, where he combined his journalistic and persuasion interest.
Bernays understood that publics could be persuaded if the message supported their values and interests. His first book, Crystallizing Public Opinion was the first book of public relations. In many ways, the thrust of his philosophy is made clear in the book. He saw public relations as being more or less similar with propaganda, which he defined as "the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinion of the masses".
Throughout his career, Bernays described public relations as the science of creating circumstances, mounting events that are calculated to stand out as newsworthy, yet at the same time do not appear to be staged. Staged "media events" were clearly a defining characteristic of the agency that Bernays started in 1919 with Doris Fleischman, his future wife and partner.
Lights Golden Jubilee
Lights Golden Jubilee was Bernays's most well known event that recognized the 50-year anniversary Thomas Edison's invention of the electric lightbulb. It was underwritten in 1929 by General Electric and the National Electric Light Association. Bernays cast the jubilee media event as the premier testimony to the genius of American Business and entrepreneurial spirit. It was staged as a massive display of lighting in Dearborn, Michigan and other places around the world.
Prior to the event, Bernays arranged tremendous press coverage and magazine features, anticipated by mayors, governors and other statesmen throughout the United States and western Europe in order to gain endorsement as well as salutary proclamation.
However, the real newsworthiness came on the day of the event when the assembled dignitaries on the Dearborn platform included President Herbert Hoover, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller Jr and many more.
He taught the first college level PR course at New York University in 1923. He also acted as leading advocate for PR professionalism through practitioner licensing and credentialing.
He remained as an active counselor, writer and speaker until his death in 1995 at age of 103.
Terminologies:-
Persuasion : The communication process intended to change awareness, attitudes and behaviour.
Propaganda : A form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position.
Source :
Public Relations: The profession & The Practice by Lattimore, Baskin, Heiman & Toth (4th editio
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