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Edward Bernays

File:Edward_Bernays_cropped.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Edward Bernays

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Also known as Edward L. Bernays

American propaganda and marketing pioneer (1891-1995)

Person · Open Library

Born
November 22,1891 Vienna
Died
March 9,1995 Cambridge MA
Works
36

Top works

  • Propaganda
  • The postwar responsibility of the American press
  • Tomorrow's public relations
  • How to rebuild industrial peace and prevent strife
  • Direct mail

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting

Known for

  • Propaganda: Engineering Consent — Self - Publicist (archive footage)2018
  • The Century of the Self — Self (archive footage)2002

via TMDB

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
36
Total plays
101

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Edward+Bernays">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Edward Bernays

Quotes

  • This is an age of mass production. In the mass production of materials a broad technique has been developed and applied to their distribution. In this age, too, there must be a technique for the mass distribution of ideas.
  • The engineering of consent is the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest.
  • The three main elements of public relations are practically as old as society: informing people, persuading people, or integrating people with people. Of course, the means and methods of accomplishing these ends have changed as society has changed.
  • Goebbels [...] was using my book Crystallizing Public Opinion as a basis for his destructive campaign against the Jews of Germany. This shocked me.
  • It is sometimes possible to change the attitudes of millions but impossible to change the attitude of one man.
  • For the same reason I read the National Geographic, I like to see places I will never visit.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Born
Edward Bernays , ( 1891-11-22 ) November 22, 1891, Vienna , Austria-Hungary
Died
March 9, 1995 (1995-03-09) (aged 103), Cambridge, Massachusetts , U.S.
Education
Cornell University (BS)
Known for
Public relations ( campaigns ) Advertising Books Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923) Propaganda (1928) Public Relations (1945) The Engineering of Consent (1955)
Spouse
Doris Fleischman ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1922 ; died July 10, 1980</span>"}]]}'>1980 ) ​
Children
Doris Held Anne Bernays
Parents
Ely Bernays (father) Anna (Freud) Bernays (mother)
Relatives
Martha Bernays (aunt), Sigmund Freud (uncle), Isaac Bernays (great-grandfather), Marc Randolph (great-nephew), Nicolae Steinhardt (cousin)
Fields
Psychology , sociology

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image
Edward Bernays cropped.png
Show 7 more facts
date of birth
1891-11-22
date of death
1995-03-09
Commons category
Edward Bernays
name in native language
Edward Bernays
birth name
Edward Louis Bernays
Commons Creator page
Edward Bernays
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~34 min read

Article

Edward Louis Bernays (/bɜːrˈneɪz/ bur-NAYZ; Austrian German: [bɛrˈnaɪs]; November 22, 1891 − March 9, 1995) was an Austrian-American pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda, referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations". While credited with advancing the profession of public relations, his techniques have been criticized for manipulating public opinion, often in ways that undermined individual autonomy and democratic values.

His best-known campaigns include a 1929 effort to promote female smoking by branding cigarettes as feminist "Torches of Freedom", and his work for the United Fruit Company in the 1950s, connected with the CIA-orchestrated overthrow of the democratically elected Guatemalan government in 1954. Bernays' involvement in Guatemala facilitated US imperialism and contributed to decades of civil unrest and repression, raising ethical concerns about his role in undermining democratic governance.

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