0:00:03.547,0:00:06.460 Public opinion is big business. 0:00:06.460,0:00:11.353 As of 2011, there were more than[br]7,000 public relations firms in 0:00:11.353,0:00:13.069 the United States alone. 0:00:13.069,0:00:17.808 These companies work on behalf of[br]corporations, trade organizations, or 0:00:17.808,0:00:21.700 individuals who hope to put[br]a positive spin on their image. 0:00:21.700,0:00:26.688 Whether it's a celebrity trying to salvage[br]his or her reputation after a meltdown, 0:00:26.688,0:00:30.984 a musician promoting an album, or[br]business combating negative press. 0:00:30.984,0:00:36.360 Chances are, you've recently encountered[br]PR work and you might not have known. 0:00:36.360,0:00:41.155 There's no denying the importance of[br]this multi-billion dollar industry, 0:00:41.155,0:00:45.016 but what exactly is it,[br]how does it work, and who invented it? 0:00:45.016,0:00:48.552 >> We often talk about the propaganda[br]being relatively recent, but or 0:00:48.552,0:00:49.550 course it isn't. 0:00:50.610,0:00:53.880 Even in ancient societies[br]that weren't democratic, 0:00:53.880,0:00:57.434 especially large states it was[br]understood by elites that, 0:00:57.434,0:01:01.500 if you don't have the support of[br]the people you could be in trouble. 0:01:01.500,0:01:05.515 And so a fair bit of attention[br]was actually given to 0:01:05.515,0:01:08.725 legitimizing military adventures. 0:01:08.725,0:01:12.684 >> Propaganda and persuasion have[br]been around for centuries, eons. 0:01:12.684,0:01:17.869 But propaganda in its modern sense[br]can be traced to the 15th and 0:01:17.869,0:01:23.824 16th century, when the Catholic Church[br]was in a tough competition with 0:01:23.824,0:01:29.800 the Protestants over how to articulate[br]a religious vision for the world. 0:01:29.800,0:01:34.768 And the reason that I mention this[br]is that it shows that propaganda is 0:01:34.768,0:01:39.575 about mindset, it's about ideology,[br]it's about world view. 0:01:39.575,0:01:44.399 How people see things as distinct[br]from individual policy or 0:01:44.399,0:01:49.433 whether you happen to like this[br]candidate or that candidate. 0:01:49.433,0:01:55.344 So, that's where the word came from for[br]propagating the faith. 0:01:55.344,0:01:59.580 And that's the way the word was used[br]up until the early 20th century. 0:01:59.580,0:02:05.326 And then what emerged, particularly[br]with World War I, was the application 0:02:05.326,0:02:10.533 of this propagating the faith,[br]to refer to international affairs, 0:02:10.533,0:02:16.490 to refer to what a national government[br]would do, a national security policy. 0:02:16.490,0:02:21.090 [MUSIC] 0:02:21.090,0:02:24.836 >> There were clear warning signs[br]long before the age of the invent. 0:02:24.836,0:02:28.119 During the assault on Serbia,[br]under President Clinton, 0:02:28.119,0:02:31.469 a report emerged,[br]by the Dutch journalist, Abe De Vries, 0:02:31.469,0:02:34.620 revealing the presence of[br]Psy warriors working at CNN. 0:02:35.640,0:02:39.754 They derived from the third psychological[br]operations battalion at Fort Bragg in 0:02:39.754,0:02:40.669 North Carolina. 0:02:40.669,0:02:46.760 De Vries quoted Major Thomas Collins[br]of the US Army information service. 0:02:46.760,0:02:51.421 Psyops personnel, soldiers and[br]officers have been working in CNN's 0:02:51.421,0:02:56.173 headquarters in Atlanta through our[br]program training with industry. 0:02:56.173,0:02:58.640 They helped in the production of news. 0:02:58.640,0:03:03.960 [MUSIC] 0:03:03.960,0:03:08.791 What made the Iraq War different were not[br]so much the tactics or even the scale, but 0:03:08.791,0:03:10.200 the high tech synergy. 0:03:11.240,0:03:16.184 It was almost impossible to tell where the[br]state ended and the Fourth Estate began. 0:03:16.184,0:03:19.941 >> One of the things that we don't wanna[br]do is to destroy the infrastructure of 0:03:19.941,0:03:22.815 Iraq because in a few days[br]we're gonna own that country. 0:03:22.815,0:03:24.045 >> Should they have used more? 0:03:24.045,0:03:30.227 Should they use a MOAB, the mother of[br]all bombs and a few daisy cutters. 0:03:30.227,0:03:33.238 And let's not just stop at[br]a couple of [INAUDIBLE] 0:03:33.238,0:03:35.065 >> You're only 40 [CROSSTALK] 0:03:35.065,0:03:36.209 >> The invasion of Iraq 0:03:36.209,0:03:39.986 represents a pinnacle of domestic[br]psy-war in the United States. 0:03:39.986,0:03:43.971 An unparalleled integration[br]between public relations firms, 0:03:43.971,0:03:46.560 corporate media, and military psyops. 0:03:47.570,0:03:51.962 At the time of the assault, large segments[br]of the American public were convinced that 0:03:51.962,0:03:55.744 a nuclear attack by Saddam Hussein on[br]their nation was not only possible, 0:03:55.744,0:03:56.543 but imminent. 0:03:56.543,0:04:01.230 Soldiers who comprised the invading[br]force were similarly confused. 0:04:01.230,0:04:05.119 With a remarkable 77% believing[br]that Hussein was responsible for 0:04:05.119,0:04:06.599 the attacks of 9/11. 0:04:06.599,0:04:07.790 [MUSIC] 0:04:07.790,0:04:12.728 Many earnestly believed that the mission[br]was to destroy a mysterious group known as 0:04:12.728,0:04:16.057 Al-Qaeda while bringing[br]freedom to the Iraqi people. 0:04:16.057,0:04:20.880 Yet but what was actually happening,[br]was what the Nuremberg charger 0:04:20.880,0:04:26.060 describes as the single greatest[br]crime under international law. 0:04:26.060,0:04:30.492 The planning, preparation, initiation,[br]or waging of a war of aggression. 0:04:30.492,0:04:33.644 [SOUND] 0:04:33.644,0:04:35.905 [MUSIC] 0:04:35.905,0:04:39.380 Seven years later,[br]the results of the invasion are clear. 0:04:40.430,0:04:44.188 According to the Lancet, one of Britain's[br]most respected medical journals, 0:04:44.188,0:04:48.410 approximately 600,000 Iraqis had been[br]killed from the invasion as of 2006. 0:04:48.410,0:04:56.180 By 2009, a polling agency put[br]the number at over 1 million. 0:04:56.180,0:05:00.052 4 million Iraqi have been made[br]refugees in their own country, 0:05:00.052,0:05:02.327 their entire society is shattered. 0:05:02.327,0:05:05.154 [MUSIC] 0:05:05.154,0:05:09.790 How did the land of the free and the home[br]of the brave arrive at a place where 0:05:09.790,0:05:15.114 citizens could be manipulated with such[br]efficiency, and on such a massive scale? 0:05:15.114,0:05:20.590 [MUSIC] 0:05:20.590,0:05:26.052 >> Ivy Lee went to work for[br]among other clients the Rockefellers, 0:05:26.052,0:05:31.619 the Rockefeller family after[br]the Ludlow massacre used Ivy Lee to 0:05:31.619,0:05:37.410 manage the public perception around[br]that event and other events. 0:05:37.410,0:05:41.650 Ivy Lee's specialty was crisis management. 0:05:41.650,0:05:46.518 Among other things, he's credited with[br]inventing the press release which all of 0:05:46.518,0:05:49.280 us just sort of think of[br]as something helpful. 0:05:49.280,0:05:53.684 You wanna publicize an event,[br]a church picnic, call a news conference, 0:05:53.684,0:05:56.280 you put out a press release. 0:05:56.280,0:06:01.041 But at the time the idea was very radical[br]because what Ivy Lee was saying is, well, 0:06:01.041,0:06:04.574 we're gonna manage this crisis[br]by calling attention to it. 0:06:04.574,0:06:10.450 We're gonna actually assist and help the[br]news media and journalists in covering it. 0:06:10.450,0:06:15.610 What he knew was that the degree to[br]which journalists became used to and 0:06:15.610,0:06:21.556 dependent on his services was the degree[br]to which he could actually cultivate and 0:06:21.556,0:06:22.964 manage coverage. 0:06:22.964,0:06:24.946 [MUSIC] 0:06:24.946,0:06:28.280 >> He began by waging[br]a disinformation campaign. 0:06:28.280,0:06:32.718 He put up news bulletins claiming that[br]the 2 women and 11 children at Ludlow, 0:06:32.718,0:06:36.108 had not been killed by militia,[br]but by an overturned stove. 0:06:36.108,0:06:39.304 He circulated stories[br]suggesting that Mother Jones, 0:06:39.304,0:06:44.220 in addition to being a labor organizer[br]was a modern Haryana Bordello. 0:06:44.220,0:06:47.917 He ghost wrote letters to the governor and[br]even the President Wilson. 0:06:47.917,0:06:50.416 Lee's techniques achieved little success, 0:06:50.416,0:06:53.819 in part because he himself had[br]become a highly visible figure. 0:06:55.360,0:06:59.894 [SOUND] In the future, PR experts would[br]learn that their techniques are rarely 0:06:59.894,0:07:02.345 effective unless practiced in the dark. 0:07:02.345,0:07:05.790 Yet, one of Lee's innovations[br]was epoch making. 0:07:05.790,0:07:09.814 Upon learning that the Rockefeller[br]Foundation had $100 million set aside for 0:07:09.814,0:07:11.044 promotional purposes. 0:07:11.044,0:07:16.014 He convinced Rockefeller to donate large[br]sums to colleges hospitals, churches, 0:07:16.014,0:07:21.440 and charitable organizations,[br]in order to generate positive publicity. 0:07:21.440,0:07:26.893 He also suggested that Rockefeller Senior[br]begin handing out money in public, 0:07:26.893,0:07:30.870 and that Junior appear in[br]staged photo ups at work sites. 0:07:30.870,0:07:35.300 What Ivy Lee understood was that[br]the corporation needed a makeover. 0:07:35.300,0:07:38.834 Widely perceived as greedy,[br]tyrannical institutions, 0:07:38.834,0:07:42.880 corporations needed to manufacture[br]an image of worth and caring. 0:07:44.270,0:07:49.425 >> This is the beginning of[br]the public relations industry. 0:07:49.425,0:07:54.024 Rockefeller didn't set up[br]the Rockefeller Foundation until 0:07:54.024,0:07:59.154 Rockefeller became very unpopular[br]because of his labor policies and 0:07:59.154,0:08:04.030 suddenly they Rockville and[br]needed to create a good impression. 0:08:05.230,0:08:08.955 >> Well, it's an interesting phenomenon[br]that the poor actually give a larger 0:08:08.955,0:08:11.059 percentage of their income than the rich. 0:08:11.059,0:08:15.276 And I think the rich feel[br]they're doing more because, 0:08:15.276,0:08:21.236 giving 100,000 dollars seems like[br]a substantial kind of donation and 0:08:21.236,0:08:25.179 it doesn't matter that[br]they have 100 million, 0:08:25.179,0:08:29.050 they still think they've done quite a lot. 0:08:29.050,0:08:35.649 >> Ive Lee went to work for the IG Farben[br]company, the German industrial company and 0:08:35.649,0:08:42.261 we know now that IG Farben Was actually[br]part of the Nazi propaganda inner circle. 0:08:42.261,0:08:48.714 One of the most effective and[br]of course horrifying government propaganda 0:08:48.714,0:08:55.374 campaigns ever organized was the Nazi[br]campaign that continued for years and 0:08:55.374,0:09:02.053 years under the direction of Nazi[br]propaganda administer Joseph Goebbels. 0:09:02.053,0:09:07.338 Ivy Lee, and[br]also paid Ivy Lee's son to represent, 0:09:07.338,0:09:13.467 not just their interests, but[br]the interests of Nazi Germany 0:09:13.467,0:09:19.990 in an effort to paint the Nazi[br]regime as being a friendly regime. 0:09:19.990,0:09:23.143 >> But before lending his[br]expertise to the Third Reich, Mr. 0:09:23.143,0:09:25.598 Lee would do so for[br]the American government. 0:09:25.598,0:09:29.032 Along with other experts in[br]the burgeoning field of mind science and 0:09:29.032,0:09:33.110 public relations, he would engineer[br]propaganda for World War I. 0:09:33.110,0:09:34.917 Not just against the enemy, 0:09:34.917,0:09:38.766 the Germans, but[br]against the American people themselves. 0:09:38.766,0:09:41.790 In republic and[br]parliamentary democracy alike, 0:09:41.790,0:09:45.270 citizens would be reduced[br]to passive observers. 0:09:45.270,0:09:47.064 They would be allowed to pick and 0:09:47.064,0:09:50.328 choose which individual make[br]decisions on their behalf. 0:09:50.328,0:09:53.390 But they would not be able to[br]make those decisions themselves. 0:09:54.800,0:09:59.165 Returning to the period after the first[br]World War I, we find widespread support 0:09:59.165,0:10:03.610 amongst intellectuals from Madison's[br]elitist interpretation of democracy. 0:10:03.610,0:10:05.297 According to Walter Lippmann, 0:10:05.297,0:10:09.498 the public's function in politics was[br]to be interested spectators of action. 0:10:09.498,0:10:11.941 Than non-participants. 0:10:11.941,0:10:13.690 [MUSIC] 0:10:13.690,0:10:16.057 Yet, Lippmann perceived a problem. 0:10:16.057,0:10:20.350 New technologies in communication and[br]transportation had awakened millions of 0:10:20.350,0:10:24.730 disenfranchised people to a new world[br]outside their towns and cities. 0:10:24.730,0:10:28.287 While traditional economic, political,[br]and social structures remained in place. 0:10:28.287,0:10:33.359 Something had to change, but[br]rather than advocate structural changes in 0:10:33.359,0:10:40.440 society's institutions, Lippman suggested[br]that propaganda readjust the public mind. 0:10:40.440,0:10:43.468 >> In his essays on[br]democracy in the 1920s, 0:10:43.468,0:10:47.933 which are incidentally called[br]progressive essays on democracy, 0:10:47.933,0:10:52.413 he was a Wilson, Roosevelt,[br]Kennedy [INAUDIBLE] American sense. 0:10:52.413,0:10:57.880 He says that the majority[br]are simply incompetent. 0:10:57.880,0:11:01.627 They are ignorant and[br]meddlesome outsiders in his view, 0:11:01.627,0:11:04.366 that's the majority of the population. 0:11:04.366,0:11:07.996 And to allow them to participate in[br]the decision making would be a complete 0:11:07.996,0:11:09.460 disaster. 0:11:09.460,0:11:14.213 >> So therefore we have to[br]design means to ensure that 0:11:14.213,0:11:17.721 what he called the responsible men, 0:11:17.721,0:11:23.377 of whom he was of course one,[br]are protected from the roar and 0:11:23.377,0:11:28.609 the trampling of the beasts,[br]the ignorant majority. 0:11:28.609,0:11:31.235 [MUSIC] 0:11:31.235,0:11:38.090 >> [SOUND][br]>> And he devised a number of methods. 0:11:38.090,0:11:40.270 Lippmann called it manufacture of consent. 0:11:40.270,0:11:45.500 We have to manufacture the consent of[br]the ignorant and meddlesome outsiders. 0:11:45.500,0:11:47.061 The mass of the population and 0:11:47.061,0:11:50.628 the huge public relations industry[br]was developed at the same time. 0:11:50.628,0:11:53.104 They are the people who manage and 0:11:53.104,0:11:59.680 control the marketing exercises that[br]are called elections in the United States. 0:11:59.680,0:12:02.362 They are marketing exercises,[br]and they're well aware of it. 0:12:02.362,0:12:05.290 >> Apparently, we have all been wrong. 0:12:05.290,0:12:07.792 It is pronounced California. 0:12:07.792,0:12:15.671 Ladies and gentlemen, the governor of the[br]great state of California, Arnold My God. 0:12:15.671,0:12:19.577 [MUSIC] 0:12:19.577,0:12:23.982 >> So, for example, in the last election,[br]2008, the advertising industry gives 0:12:23.982,0:12:27.240 a prize every year for[br]the best marketing campaign of the year. 0:12:27.240,0:12:32.418 2008, they gave it to the Obama campaign,[br]who beat out commercial competitors. 0:12:32.418,0:12:37.492 The idea is, we market candidates[br]the same way we market toothpaste or 0:12:37.492,0:12:40.140 life style drugs or automobiles. 0:12:40.140,0:12:43.692 Of course it helps to have[br]a lot of money and in fact, 0:12:43.692,0:12:48.915 Obama greatly outspent McCain and[br]not because of popular contributions. 0:12:48.915,0:12:53.030 It came mostly from financial oil[br]industries, he was their candidate. 0:12:53.030,0:12:57.170 And his policies all predictably[br]respond to his constituency. 0:12:57.170,0:13:03.530 [MUSIC] 0:13:03.530,0:13:07.400 >> Prominent intellectuals continue to[br]argue that world's complexity makes 0:13:07.400,0:13:08.675 democracy impossible. 0:13:08.675,0:13:11.678 A recent cover story in[br]TIME Magazine claimed that, 0:13:11.678,0:13:15.520 democracy is in the worst[br]interest of national goals. 0:13:15.520,0:13:17.693 The modern world is too[br]complex to allow the man or 0:13:17.693,0:13:20.030 woman in the street to[br]interfere in its management. 0:13:20.030,0:13:22.760 [MUSIC] 0:13:22.760,0:13:25.696 A man who surely would have[br]agreed was Edward Bernays. 0:13:25.696,0:13:29.937 Like Litman, Bernays served as[br]a propagandist on the Creel committee, and 0:13:29.937,0:13:33.290 like Litman, he went on to[br]refashion wartime propaganda. 0:13:33.290,0:13:33.900 For peacetime aims. 0:13:33.900,0:13:35.370 [MUSIC] 0:13:35.370,0:13:40.718 In his classic text Propaganda,[br]Bernay suggested that elite regiment 0:13:40.718,0:13:45.810 the public mind every bit as much[br]as an army regiments their bodies. 0:13:45.810,0:13:52.271 Bernay considered mass mind control so[br]crucial that it constituted in his words, 0:13:52.271,0:13:55.840 the very essence of[br]the democratic process. 0:13:57.655,0:14:02.283 Bernay's opportunity to shine arose when a[br]crises threatened not only the profits of 0:14:02.283,0:14:05.315 major corporations but[br]the entire capitalist system. 0:14:05.315,0:14:09.645 The solution as theorized by business[br]leaders would lead to social breakdown, 0:14:09.645,0:14:14.367 environmental catastrophe, and further[br]alienation between the American people and 0:14:14.367,0:14:16.244 their government. 0:14:16.244,0:14:18.980 It would also lead to wealth on[br]a scale never before imagined. 0:14:18.980,0:14:21.362 [MUSIC][br]>> The problem of capitalism is 0:14:21.362,0:14:25.973 the problem of consumption, and[br]the problem is that after your 0:14:25.973,0:14:31.320 basic needs have been met,[br]there is no real need for consumption. 0:14:31.320,0:14:35.415 And so you have to convince people that[br]in fact their identities are based upon 0:14:35.415,0:14:38.828 the consumption of objects for[br]which there is no material need. 0:14:38.828,0:14:42.080 That's the problem that comes[br]from the expansion of the market. 0:14:42.080,0:14:44.194 If you look at advertising,[br]it's a very interesting history. 0:14:44.194,0:14:49.467 In the first period of advertising,[br]we can say right up until about the 1920s, 0:14:49.467,0:14:52.680 Advertising talked about goods themselves. 0:14:52.680,0:14:56.865 It talked about how they were made,[br]what they did, how well they lasted, etc,. 0:14:56.865,0:15:01.800 It really is a discourse about objects,[br]about what goods did. 0:15:01.800,0:15:05.253 However, starting around 1920,[br]that changes, and from that period on, 0:15:05.253,0:15:07.841 advertising doesn't really[br]talk about good themselves. 0:15:07.841,0:15:11.530 They talk about the relationship[br]of goods to our needs. 0:15:14.180,0:15:18.400 >> At the center of the new[br]strategy was Edward Bernays. 0:15:18.400,0:15:22.148 If Walter Litman had concerned[br]himself with an overarching analysis 0:15:22.148,0:15:26.799 of mass media and democracy, Bernays would[br]devote most of his energies to propaganda 0:15:26.799,0:15:29.080 on behalf of the corporation. 0:15:29.080,0:15:32.941 His uncle, Sigmund Freud,[br]would serve as his muse. 0:15:32.941,0:15:36.398 Rather than focus on the intrinsic[br]worth of a particular product, 0:15:36.398,0:15:39.610 Bernay's suggested a strategy[br]where products became linked 0:15:39.610,0:15:41.970 with the unconscious[br]desires of the public. 0:15:41.970,0:15:45.953 In this manner there would be virtually[br]no limits to either production or 0:15:45.953,0:15:47.450 consumption. 0:15:47.450,0:15:49.540 >> Freud's nephew was a man[br]by the name of Bernay. 0:15:49.540,0:15:53.343 And he's regarded as the father[br]of modern public relations, 0:15:53.343,0:15:56.140 particularly in the United States. 0:15:56.140,0:16:00.841 His contribution if you want to[br]call it that was to take propaganda 0:16:00.841,0:16:06.311 techniques that have been developed for[br]military psychological warfare, 0:16:06.311,0:16:09.993 national security type[br]issues during World War I. 0:16:09.993,0:16:14.340 and apply them in a systematic[br]way to commercial issues. 0:16:14.340,0:16:20.674 One of his best known efforts had to do[br]with encouraging females, women to smoke. 0:16:20.674,0:16:23.170 He would stage beauty pageants. 0:16:23.170,0:16:27.555 He would stage what are today would be[br]called photo ops and that sort of thing. 0:16:27.555,0:16:35.190 In which smoking by women was[br]portrayed as women's liberation. 0:16:35.190,0:16:41.642 Was portrayed as a way to be free and[br]empowered is getting addicted to nicotine. 0:16:41.642,0:16:49.091 The audience, the market in Bernay's[br]mind had a clear desire to be free, 0:16:49.091,0:16:53.790 to be stronger,[br]to be more self- empowered. 0:16:53.790,0:16:58.760 So women clearly wanted these things along[br]comes Bernays in the tobacco industry and 0:16:58.760,0:17:00.380 says here is how to have it. 0:17:00.380,0:17:04.835 >> The major story that advertising[br]tells us about human happiness is that 0:17:04.835,0:17:09.180 the way to happiness is through[br]the consumption of things. 0:17:09.180,0:17:12.311 That, in fact, buying something in[br]the marketplace will make you happy. 0:17:12.311,0:17:14.790 In fact, that's the message[br]of almost every single ad. 0:17:14.790,0:17:18.344 And it's not often that you can say,[br]that there's one message that is in 0:17:18.344,0:17:21.329 the literally millions of ads[br]that are produced every year. 0:17:21.329,0:17:25.298 Well actually I think that is the message,[br]the message of advertising as a whole is 0:17:25.298,0:17:27.377 that it's better to buy[br]than to not to buy. 0:17:27.377,0:17:29.701 That in fact the way to become, and 0:17:29.701,0:17:33.790 that you'll happier as a result[br]of buying than not buying. 0:17:33.790,0:17:37.199 That idea in fact I think[br]is the major force for 0:17:37.199,0:17:40.796 global social change[br]over the last 50 years.