How Bernays got women to start smoking cigarettes in a way that might surprise you...
-Thread☠️
-Thread☠️
Have you ever heard of Edward Bernays?
If you’re interested in public relations, human psychology and mass manipulation, you should read his work.
If you’re interested in public relations, human psychology and mass manipulation, you should read his work.
Here is a fascinating story of how Bernays was able to get women to start smoking publicly.
In 1929, George W. Hill, asked Bernays: "How can we get women to smoke on the street. They’re smoking indoors."
In 1929, George W. Hill, asked Bernays: "How can we get women to smoke on the street. They’re smoking indoors."
"But, damn it, if they spend half the time outdoors and we can get them to smoke outdoors, we’ll damn near double our female market. Do something. Act!"
George was the president of the American Tobacco Company, and Bernays needed to find a way to fulfill his client’s wishes because that would mean more $$s for both Bernays and the company he was working with.
Bernays consulted A.A. Brill, a psychiatrist who was also one of Freud’s former pupils.
Here’s the golden revelation that made the campaign a success: Brill told Bernays “Cigarettes which are equated with men become torches of freedom.”
Here’s the golden revelation that made the campaign a success: Brill told Bernays “Cigarettes which are equated with men become torches of freedom.”
“Cigarettes are a symbol of the male penis. If you can find a way to make smoking cigarettes seem like a way of challenging male power, then you’ll get women to smoke. Because then they would have their own penises."
Basically what he was saying was that if Bernays could find a way to get women to see smoking as an act of emancipation from their feminine bonds to a liberated “equalist” one, then droves of young women would readily smoke openly.
IT WORKED!
IT WORKED!
Bernays engineered the whole thing from this little piece of information and from thereon, the whole campaign began.
Before then, women were known to exclusively smoke indoors, but after the campaign, the rate at which women smoked outdoors literally shot through the roof.
Before then, women were known to exclusively smoke indoors, but after the campaign, the rate at which women smoked outdoors literally shot through the roof.
It wasn’t just about the act of inhaling tobacco. To the many young women participating in this was a symbol.
It was a symbol of freedom and one that was rooted in their unconscious and had a strong effect on their sense of self.
It was a symbol of freedom and one that was rooted in their unconscious and had a strong effect on their sense of self.
Like Bernays said, majority of humans are incapable of making rational decisions on their own and this allows those with the capacity to manipulate public opinions and consciousness even more powerful.
When it comes to selling and PR, Bernays showed us that humans always go with their emotional side first before the logical one. This is what makes public manipulation and herd mentality a possibility.
The human psyche has a lot of hidden characteristics that the master puppeteer can always manipulate to get what he wants.
Therefore, it's important that we learn everything from the right sources and be aware of being overtly influenced by anybody or any Idea, especially the one that doesn't have it's roots in reality.
Thank you for reading!🦉
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If you liked this thread, RT the first tweet & follow me @artofpropaganda for more.
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