Manuscript/Mixed Material This Business of Propaganda and An Excerpted Article About How to Apply Advertising Techniques to Political Campaigns.

Title

• This Business of Propaganda and An Excerpted Article About How to Apply Advertising Techniques to Political Campaigns.

Names

• Bernays, Edward L.

Created / Published

• 1928/09/01

Headings

• -  Advertising
• -  Public relations
• -  Advertising, Political
• -  Business ethics
• -  Propaganda
• -  Manuscripts

Genre

• Manuscripts

Notes

• -  Offprint of an article published in The Independent, September 1, 1928, on pages 198-99. It takes as its point of departure the then recent Federal Trade Commission investigation of public-utility propaganda. The article distinguishes between advertising and "public relations or propaganda" and discusses the legitimate uses of propaganda, particularly by big business. Includes an overview of the impact of World War I on the development and success of propaganda techniques. Central to Bernays's discussion is the ethics of the new profession: a public-relations counsel "must never accept a retainer or assume a position which puts his duty to the groups he represents above his duty to society." The public interest comes before a client's interest. Bernays preserved in the same folder a newspaper clipping, "Selling Candidate to Voters," which reprints excerpts from an article, "Supersalesman" by Emily Newell, that also appeared in The Independent. Newell discusses the application of advertising techniques to political candidates and recommends "selling" them to voters like toothpaste. Reproduced as facsimile page images: 3 pages.

Call Number/Physical Location

• Speech and Article File, 1919-1962. Container 422: 1919-1934
• Folder: "The Business of Propaganda," September 1928

Source Collection

• Edward L. Bernays papers.

Repository

• Manuscript Division

Digital Id

• http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/amrlm.mss12534_18

Online Format

• image
• pdf
• online text

IIIF Presentation Manifest

• Manifest (JSON/LD)