Public Relations Paperback – July 29, 2013

This book a great introduction and overview on the field of public relations. This book was recommended by a friend and I really appreciate the recommendation.

Recieved timely and in good condition

Honestly just as I wanted , brand new.Nothing bad to say

Muy interesante

Edward Bernays was Sigmund Freud’s American nephew. I’m convinced that genius ran in that family. Where Freud unlocked the secrets of the unconscious, Bernays discovered how to use the subconscious to manipulate people on a mass scale. This is a big oversimplification. But he understood how symbols could be used to get people to buy things, either literally or figuratively. For example, to promote cigarette smoking, he linked the idea of women’s rights to it. At a big feminist march for the right to vote, he’d have the women smoke cigarettes, too. That would show people that a woman could smoke too, if she felt like it, just like a man! It worked. But it was more than that. “Public relations” is a two-way street. If you want people to like you, you have to please them. First of all you have to find out what REALLY pleases them. Then he gives some methods of finding out. This is where the book is very dated. Since this book was published, new, more reliable methods of data collection and statistical analysis have been vastly developed from the embryonic methods of Bernays. I’m glad I read the book. The basics are true. But today the book is virtually obsolete on some levels. I recommend reading it for the history and the philosophy involved, but the actual methods are really primitive by today’s standards. But as Bernays himself said, if you’re going to work on a subject, you must first of all read the key texts so you can understand what you’re dealing with. This is one of the key texts of public relations. Four stars.

If you want to get a clear understanding of public relations, this is the book to start, maybe even finish with. Bernays has one heck of a reputation in public relation, marketing and propaganda. This book will help you see behind the scenes in todays efforts to influence, for good and ill.

Old school PR. Great read

Good introduction to Public Relations.