I just added a link to a great documentary concerning Edward Bernays and his life's work. The Century of Self. One of the best documentaries that changed how I saw marketing forever. He does everything from making instant cake a success to convincing the US population to overthrow the legitimate democracy of a smaller country for the benefits of a corporation.

To me, Bernays' work is the Manhattan Project of communications. In this regard I think the conclusion the author makes is relevant. Frankly, it is discomforting in light of such modern trends as native advertising and personal media networks that conform to individual bias.

I studied Bernays in college. How more people don't know about him dumbfounds me. But I suppose he would have preferred to remain unknown.

Yet propaganda had acquired a somewhat pejorative connotation (which would be further magnified during World War II), so Bernays promoted the term “public relations.”

I... How did I not...

I WORK in public relations, and this is the first time I've recognized myself as a member of the propaganda machine.