Edward Bernays Publishes "Crystallizing Public Opinion" Launching Modern PR Industry

Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud and veteran propagandist for the Committee on Public Information during World War I, publishes “Crystallizing Public Opinion,” the first book to codify techniques for manipulating mass psychology in service of corporate and political interests. Bernays synthesizes his uncle’s theories of the unconscious mind with wartime propaganda techniques to create what he calls “public relations counsel” - professional manipulation of public perception on behalf of paying clients. The book launches an industry designed to manufacture consent for corporate agendas while obscuring the source of influence.

Bernays explicitly rejects the democratic premise that citizens make rational decisions based on accurate information. Instead, he argues that “intelligent minorities” must engineer consent from the “bewildered herd” through appeals to unconscious desires and fears. His 1928 book “Propaganda” will state bluntly: “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.” This philosophy underpins all subsequent corporate public relations.

Bernays’ most famous campaigns demonstrate PR’s power to reshape cultural norms for commercial profit. For American Tobacco Company, he stages the 1929 “Torches of Freedom” parade, hiring debutantes to smoke cigarettes publicly as feminist statement, breaking taboos against women smoking and expanding tobacco markets. For United Fruit Company in the 1950s, he will orchestrate media campaigns portraying Guatemala’s democratic government as communist threat, contributing to CIA-backed coup. His techniques are adopted across corporate America to oppose labor organizing, environmental regulation, consumer protection, and public health measures. The PR industry Bernays creates becomes essential infrastructure for corporate capture of democratic discourse, professionalizing the manufacture of astroturf movements, front groups, and “independent” expert opinion serving corporate interests.