How Edward Bernays Invented Public Relations

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

In this episode of pplpod, we explore the life of Edward Bernays, the Vienna-born double nephew of Sigmund Freud who turned psychoanalytic ideas into the modern craft of public relations. Born in 1891, Bernays grew up in New York and studied agriculture at Cornell before drifting into medical journalism. His 1913 promotion of the play Damaged Goods showed his signature method: instead of selling the show, he rallied elite supporters behind a public health cause. During World War I he worked for the Committee on Public Information, where he saw how mass persuasion could shape whole nations.

The episode follows Bernays's postwar career as a self-styled public relations counsel. His bacon and eggs campaign used physicians as third-party authorities to popularize the heavy breakfast. His 1929 Torches of Freedom stunt, designed with psychoanalyst Abraham Brill's advice, tied Lucky Strike cigarettes to women's liberation. His Green Ball reshaped fashion to match a cigarette package. His wife and partner, Doris Fleischman, a feminist who worked largely out of public view, helped build his firm. In the 1950s he worked for the United Fruit Company, building a front group and steering press coverage that framed Guatemala's land reforms as a communist threat before the 1954 coup against Jacobo Árbenz. His book Propaganda argued for an invisible government of elites guiding the masses, and he learned that Joseph Goebbels had studied his work. He died in 1995 at 103, leaving a legacy of influence, manipulation, and unresolved ethical questions.

In this episode we cover...

• Bernays's Vienna birth, his family ties to Freud, his Cornell agriculture degree, and the Damaged Goods campaign
• His World War I propaganda work, his invention of the public relations counsel role, and the bacon and eggs campaign
• The Torches of Freedom stunt, Abraham Brill's psychoanalytic advice, and the role of Doris Fleischman
• The Green Ball and the Lucky Strike color problem, followed by his work for the United Fruit Company
• The 1954 Guatemala coup, his philosophy of an invisible government in Propaganda, Goebbels's use of his ideas, and his death in 1995

Source credit: Research for this episode included transcript materials and supporting public relations history, psychology, twentieth-century American business, Cold War political, and biographical sources accessed October 31, 2026. Content is summarized and adapted for commentary and educational use.