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WHEN I BEGAN the research for this book-attempting to dis the social and historical roots that would explain the boundless role of public relations in our world-one of my first stops along the way was a sojourn with Edward L. Bernavs, a man who, beginning in the 1910s, became one of the most influential pioneers of American public relations, a person whose biography, though not widely known, left a deep mark on the configuration of our world.
WHEN I BEGAN the research for this book-attempting to dis the social and historical roots that would explain the boundless role of public relations in our world-one of my first stops along the way was a sojourn with Edward L. Bernavs, a man who, beginning in the 1910s, became one of the most influential pioneers of American public relations, a person whose biography, though not widely known, left …
About this book
The early years of the twentieth century were a difficult period for Big Business. Corporate monopolies, the brutal exploitation of labor, and unscrupulous business practices were the target of blistering attacks from a muckraking press and an increasingly resentful public. Corporate giants were no longer able to operate free from the scrutiny of the masses. "The crowd is now in the saddle," warned Ivy Lee, one of America's first corporate public relations men. "The people now rule. We have substituted for the divine right of kings, the divine right of the multitude." Unless corporations developed means for counteracting public disapproval, he cautioned, their future would be in peril. Lee's words heralded the dawn of an era in which corporate image management was to become a paramount feature of American society. Some corporations, such as AT&T, responded inventively to the emergency. Others, like Standard Oil of New Jersey (known today as Exxon), continued to fumble the PR ball for decades. The Age of Public Relations had begun. . In this long-awaited, pathbreaking book, Stuart Ewen tells the story of the Age unfolding: the social conditions that brought it about; the ideas that inspired the strategies of public relations specialists; the growing use of images as tools of persuasion; and, finally, the ways that the rise of public relations interacted with the changing dynamics of public life itself. He takes us on a vivid journey into the thinking of PR practitioners - from Edward Bernays to George Gallup - exploring some of the most significant campaigns to mold the…
Themes & subjects
Public relationsUnited StatesHistoryOffentlichkeitsarbeitRelations publiquesGeschichte
First published 1996Setting
United States
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