Psychoanalysis Behind The Cake Mix - Life Changing Ideas E02
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society… We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.”
Edward L. Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud as known as The Father of Public Relations
By Life magazine, one of the most influential Americans of the 20th century. Advised to some of the most important names of the history such as Eisenhower, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Enrico Caruso, Jan Masaryk, Nijinsky, Samuel Goldwyn and Eleanor Roosevelt. Ran the first course of public relations at New York University in 1923. And he is also the man behind the surprising fact about the instant cake mixes as well as many others.
Let’s start with one of the other surprising facts first. How would you picture the true all-American breakfast in your mind? It’s most probably “bacon and eggs” and it’s as American as McDonald’s. But believe it or not, bacon and eggs breakfast has been around less than a century. And the reason is, in the 1920’s, Beech-Nut Packing Company wanted to increase consumer demand for bacon and hired Bernays in order to achieve that.
Bernays started with a research, and found that Americans eat very light breakfast: Coffee, maybe a roll and orange juice. Then he and his team went to their agency doctor and asked him if it’s healthy or no. He said, it’s not healthy because body looses energy during the night and needs it during the day, so people need heavier breakfast. And Barneys asked the doctor if he would write a letter to five thousand doctors to ask their opinion if they concur with his statement. 4,500 doctors concurred with the statement that heavier breakfast is healthier, and following that Bernays made this publicised in newspapers. All of the national newspapers published that Americans need to eat bacon and eggs to improve their health. :) And following that Beech-Nut Packing Company’s sales jumps so high. On this video, Bernays himself explains how he orchestrated a massive change in American public opinion to make bacon and eggs the true all-American breakfast.
Like the true American breakfast, instant cake mix has a very similar story…
This formula was developed during the WWII to cook or bake foods easier. Just add some water to the dry ingredients mix, heat it up and viola! Get delicious food in a flash. Instant cake mix was one of the pioneering innovations in the food industry. Although it sounds very convenient, it was not selling well. When the women failed to respond to this new concept of instant cake mix, researchers were lost in this puzzle. But there may be someone who can find the missing piece… So Betty Crocker knocked Bernays’ door and asked for help. Why were the consumer resisting to adopt this new concept?
The father of public relations found the answer. Whoever heard the answer couldn’t believe in their ears. It was very unexpected: Guilt.
Bernays realized that when the housewives just add water into the mix, they felt guilty in their subconscious because they contributed very little. Following this discovery, the recipe was changed to require a couple of eggs. Would making it less convenient help? Yes indeed, it worked like magic, sales got skyrocketed.
By the Freudian psychology, an unconscious gift from the woman to the husband. The woman offered her eggs and the guilt has just disappeared. Because as stated on changingminds.org, by the Freudian theory, “an egg also has the connotation of life and birth, making the creation of the cake more meaningful - the housewife thus ‘gives birth’ for her husband.”
American breakfast and Instant Cake Mix stories are just a very tiny pieces of many Freud psychoanalytic tests conducted in the USA widely in 1950s. Even CIA has admitted that they have done many experiments on mass-control of the population. By just googling it, you can see thousands of pages about that. Also renowned Netflix original series, Stranger Things is inspired by MK Ultra — mind control experiments as well.
Edward Bernays teaches us a very critical lesson with the eggs. By his words from his interview on Youtube, “…to give people what they want by taking away their defences.”
The question is, what defences you may take away from consumers to give them what they want? And how would you find - what defences?
To be continued with E03: Filtered Cigarette / Market Shifting
References:
- https://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/pop-culture/article/watch-the-inventor-of-pr-explain-how-bacon-and-eggs-became-an-all-american-breakfast
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inside-the-box/201401/creativity-lesson-betty-crocker
- http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20171027-the-magic-cakes-that-come-from-a-packet
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-secular-shepherd/201604/edward-bernays-uncle-freud-and-betty-crocker
- http://changingminds.org/analysis/betty_crockers_egg.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays#cite_note-3
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations_campaigns_of_Edward_Bernays#Hygiene
- https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/275170.Edward_L_Bernays
- https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/mar/16/marketingandpr1
- http://www.americantable.org/2012/07/how-bacon-and-eggs-became-the-american-breakfast/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIRJ-Xi9JXY
