you-are.us

Century of the Self is a four part series from the BBC. A lot of really interesting information about men like Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud’s nephew. Bernays is considered the father of modern “public relations,” a term he came up with after World War II gave the word “propaganda” a negative connotation. He was the first to apply Freud’s techniques of psychoanalysis on the consumer through focus groups. His basic premise was that man is basically irrational and society is necessary to tame that irrational side. He was the first to touch Joe Consumer on an emotional level to get them to buy a product. For instance, he is credited with making it acceptable for women to smoke by staging a protest involving women “suffragettes” smoking “freedom sticks.”

It follows this history to people like Herbert Marcuse who said that, rather than the purpose of society being to tame the innate irrational nature of man, it is the restrictions that society places on us that incite irrational behavior. This opened the door for the radical self-expression of the 60’s & 70’s, when marketers learned to market using “lifestyles and groups”. Marketers learned that even though people now behaved more like individuals, their behavior still followed predictable patterns within their particular lifestyle or group.The last episode shows how Clinton and Blair used these tactics to appeal to swing voters, allowing Clinton to gain a second term and Labour to regain control in the UK.

Fascinating and worth watching. It sort of explains the last two elections for me. Now both sides have figured out how win by offering the nicely packaged morsels to swing voters, so we end up with a wash among the swing voters while both party’s bases are .. placated at best. How do we sell middle america on caring about their fellow man?

Century of Self - Part 1

Century of Self - Part 2

Century of Self - Part 3

Century of Self - Part 4