Tribute To The Father
of PR
Edward L. Bernays, the man
who launched the field of public relations in the 1920s, died in March
at his Cambridge, Mass., home. He was 103.
Often called the "father
of public relations," Bernays is a major reason why people eat bacon with
eggs, why women smoke cigarettes and why bank managers join civic groups.
Among his classic, history-making
campaigns:
-- Bacon producers wanted
to boost sales, so Bernays produced a study in which 5,000 doctors said
heavier breakfasts, such as bacon and eggs, were healthier than lighter
ones.
-- Bank of America overcame
a negative public attitude toward corporate bigness by getting its 500
branch managers to join civic groups with Kiwanis and Rotarians. The public's
attitude improved and deposits increased.
-- Procter & Gamble wanted
to improve children's attitudes about soap -- many complained it burned
their eyes -- and to encourage people to bathe daily rather than weekly.
So, he got sculptors to use soap for sculpturing in their art classes and
P&G sponsored a contest that had 22 million kids carving bars of Ivory
soap.
-- For Lucky Strike cigarettes,
he overcame the taboo against women smoking in public by getting debutantes
to march to New York's Central Park on a Sunday afternoon to light up "torches
of freedom." The event drew huge press coverage.
Bernays' steadfast rule that
all public relations must be in the public's best interest led him decades
later to work toward getting cigarette advertising off TV.
Bernays was known for creating
events that naturally drew media coverage. Perhaps his biggest coup was
a 1929 project: "Light's Golden Jubilee" for General Electric and Westinghouse.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the invention of the electric light bulb,
Bernays had Thomas A. Edison reenact the discovery at a ceremony with Herbert
Hoover and Henry Ford in attendance.
The nephew of Sigmund Freud,
Bernays opened his first office on East 48th Street in New York City in
1919. He wrote the field's landmark first book, Crystalizing Public Opinion.
In a speech in San Diego
10 years ago, Bernays stressed that PR is "not press agentry, flackery
or publicity, but an applied social science in which clients are advised
how to inform, educate and persuade the public to accept their products,
services or ideas.
"When I started, everyone
was using hunch and insight, but that didn't go far enough. You have to
use feedback. Today, you don't take a chance with public opinion when modern
polling techniques can tell you within 3 percentage points why you're wearing
that particular tie or color shirt."
Other bits of Bernays advice:
-- Unless you get people
behind your product, service or idea, you won't succeed.
-- To be successful, business
must get people to act. That's difficult because people don't like change.
-- Keep dealings with the
public very simple -- 16 words or less to a sentence, one idea to a sentence.
Thank you, Edward Bernays.
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