Public Relations

My friend is a blogger and she gets invited to events in exchange for covering them on various social media sites. Occasionally she’ll message me to see if I want to join her.

I’ve been her guest several times, mostly at movie screenings. They give us snacks, there’s an interview with some of the actors, and we get a goodie bag. I generally have a good time.

I also get a glimpse into how much the entertainment industry works at telling us what we should be interested in. In the end no amount of publicity can change a crap movie into a hit but if they can drum up enough buzz, there’s still hope for a perceived success.

The most recent movie we saw had a positive underlying message — instead of constantly judging and belittling, let’s support and empower each other. Unfortunately, that advice was delivered beneath so many superficial layers that it was almost lost.

As I get older I find I have less tolerance for the mainstream visions that bury everything under polished and improbable (at least to me) versions of reality.

I am aware that people watch movies to escape from reality, that is part of their magic. I get it. I love when a movie makes me feel as if I have been transported and walking out of the theatre is like returning from a journey to another world.

Then there are the movies (like the most recent screening I attended) that follow the all too familiar cookie cutter Hollywood model: buff men, perfectly put together women (in high heels and tailored clothes of course), some sort of action (a car chase or explosion will suffice), and unlikely scenarios taking place in glamorous locations. Those movies leave me feeling, meh. I understand that sex and action are an easy sell, blah blah blah, but can’t we get beyond that already?

There’s loads of money to be made, and power to be gained, in the business of telling the masses what their lives should look like. The selling of objects, ideas, lifestyles; that’s what PR, advertising, and propaganda are all about.

Image is extremely important in our society. The women who organized the PR event had a shiny and meticulous appearance. They looked like the people in the movie. I don’t look like them, although oddly enough someone in the lobby thought I was one of the actresses. I imagine it’s very time consuming and expensive to keep up appearances.

I doubt many of the other guests at the event left there thinking about public relations and its effects on society, but I couldn’t shake my thoughts on the subject. A few days later I decided to look into the history of PR. This article had some good info.

I learned about a guy named Edward Bernays, he is considered one of the pioneers of public relations. He was extremely influential in scientifically based mass psychology. He applied concepts he had learned from his uncle, Sigmund Freud (Uncle Siggy), and carried his work from the Woodrow Wilson administration during WWI into the private sector after the war.

I ordered Bernays’ book Propaganda, published in 1928, from the library. This is the first paragraph:

“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.”

Well, no beating around the bush there. In this article, I came across the phrase “ ‘engineering’ the suppressed desires of the crowd” and I thought, that about sums it up. It’s all about trying to shape society by redirecting the interests of the public. The Miriam-Webster Dictionary defines social engineering as the “management of human beings in accordance with their place and function in society.”

I initially associated the concept with corrupt governments trying to control the populace and mass media perpetuating the objectification of women and the glorification of violence. As I continued to read, I came to the realization that social engineering itself is neither good nor bad, it depends on how it is used and for what means.

Campaigns to stop smoking and laws to regulate smoke free areas can be considered results of social engineering. Honestly, I’m pretty darn happy that I can go out to eat or be on an eight hour flight without inhaling second hand smoke.

Interestingly enough, Edward Bernays was hired by the American Tobacco Company in the 1920's to encourage women to smoke (more smokers= bigger profits). Even though it was not socially acceptable for them to do so at the time, especially in public, Bernays orchestrated a “torches of freedom” event during an Easter parade in NYC. He ran adds associating smoking with women’s rights and recruited women to hold lit cigarettes in the air, their torches of freedom, and smoke in public as they marched in the parade.

In this age of cell phones and social media, we are constantly bombarded with images and sound bites from the marketing world. I was thinking it would be great if some entity could work some social engineering/public relations/propaganda magic and direct the public’s interests towards justice and kindness, and away from things like greed, predatory behaviors, and hate. I’m just saying, that would be a totally righteous thing to do.