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Pr!: A Social History of Spin by Ewen (2-Oct-1998) Paperback
As "spin" assumes an omnipresent role in contemporary discourse, chasing out frank or direct speech with buzzwords and carefully weighted terminology, the time is ripe for a study of the industry that started it all. Stuart Ewen has written an exhaustive study of public relations that traces the evolution of PR throughout the 20th century, from the history of early advertising to its role in politics and "corporate communications." PR! is a book not just for industry types or communications majors, it contains thoughtful reflections on the impact of manufactured media on our culture and democracy, topics relevant to all.
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First published November 1, 1996
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April 25, 2024
President Woodrow Wilson’s “unease about possible liberal opposition to the war (WWI)” led to the Creel Commission. Creel had been a known progressive but went rightward after “Wilson believed that Creel could bring these potential ‘opinion leaders’ into the (sold-out liberal) fold, to establish a visible link between liberal ideals and pursuit of the war.” Thus, “when war (WWI) was declared, an impassioned generation of Progressive publicists fell into line, surrounding the war effort with a veil of much-needed liberal-democratic rhetoric.” “In a political milieu in which skepticism about a ‘capitalist’s war’ was rife, who better to place at the helm of a propaganda ministry than a man (Creel) whose anti-big business credentials were immaculate.” Immaculate UNTIL then.
By 1917, it had become apparent that “advertising techniques could also be used to sell social and political ideas and even to combat social discontent.” To Walter Lippman and his intellectual cronies, “the social sciences appealed less in their ability to create an informed public and more in their promise to help establish social control.” “By 1917, Creel was approaching the conclusion that ‘people do not live by bread alone; they live mostly by catch phrases’.” The Creel Commission thus “conscripted the advertising forces of the country on behalf of the war effort.” Who doesn’t like being forced to buy stuff, you neither want nor need? “Advertising had begun to associate goods with the emotional lives – the needs, cravings, aspirations, and fears – of the consumers to whom it spoke.”
This led to formally progressive speakers touring the country, participating “in an ideological policing function. Audiences were encouraged to identify, interrogate, and report (rat on) people in their communities who expressed anti-war sentiment.” How lucky that Jesus wasn’t still alive; he’d be the first imprisoned. Whew! “African-Americans – many of whom found it difficult to swallow the liberal rhetoric of the CPI (Creel Commission) while they were burdened by entrenched patterns of racism – were identified specifically as a troublesome group, in need of special attention.” Creel shamelessly publicly denied what he was doing was censorship – Funny how Netanyahu later steals Creel’s denial schtick when he tells Likud activists, “It doesn’t matter if justice is on your side. You have to depict your position as just.” Could Hitler have said it any better? To make truth even harder to raise its head, the US then passes the Espionage Act in 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 – so immediately, in the land of freedom and liberty that patriots boast about, any criticism of the Wilson Administration was made illegal. So many dissenting Americans were thrown in jail that in one case an adolescent girl was imprisoned for twenty years” (p.121). Pause to salute the American flag…
“Images of the enemy were built on a bedrock of fear, invoking an ineluctable climate of xenophobic paranoia.” The entire U.S. united in hate against the “other” with its citizens ratting on anyone for even mild dissension – imagine that being taught in history classes. Viva propaganda!
Elites during WWI intentionally governed “without the impediment of an active or participatory public.” Walter “Lippman argued that the average person was incapable of seeing that world (reality) clearly, much less understanding it.” The solution was mixing patronizing with patriotism. The goal was “to magnify emotion while undermining critical thought” - the same goal later for Hitler, and recently Trump. I make you respond to me emotionally w/o thinking – the goal of advertising, of propaganda, of corporate financed politicians, and exactly how Obama got elected – I’m intentionally an empty vessel, fill me with your hopes and dreams.
This all leads to the PR’s first hero – Edward Bernays, famous for realizing “fully that American 20th Century liberalism would be increasingly based on social control posing as democracy, and would be desperate to learn all the opportunities for social control that it could.” Then when visually exploited, this would be called what George Duhamel termed “a kind of masturbation of the eye.” For example, female Fox news reporters – “aimed at titillating the nervous system, more than educating the mind.” Again, respond to me emotionally w/o thinking. Also the goal of every abusive spouse. Film and radio dramatically soon made easy, this mass dissemination of thought control. Hollywood embraced all kinds of consumption: “The typical heroine wore expensive clothes, furs, and elegant jewels, and either lived in a mansion or flitted between the deluxe hotels of the world; the hero, usually without visible means of support, was a splendidly accoutered, [and] drove the fanciest automobile.” As a result: “Soon home appliances, radio sets, furniture, and even such luxuries as jewelry were being sold on the installment plan. By 1929, when apparently over 75 percent of the automobiles and probably more than half of all major appliances were sold on time payments, total consumer credit, it had been estimated, had reached a peak of about $7 billion.”
The advertising Industry saw itself as educating public opinion. “Unless we reach the people, others will, and the prejudice they create is more than likely to be injurious (to advertisers).” “Never before had corporate America engaged in a comparable effort to coordinate and redirect the thinking of the nation.” Publicity Directors get PR out to newspapers, radio, foreign press, parades, speakers, schools, clubs, and pro-business articles in company publications,.
This first involved national billboards with slogans like, “There’s No Way Like the American Way”, “What’s Good for Industry Is Good For You” or “World’s Highest Standard of Living”.
Quote from 1949: “Some 4,000 corporations now support whole ‘public relations’ departments and ‘programs’.” There was a “need to use public relations as a weapon in defense of ‘our present economic systems’ against the ‘expanding authority (continued threat of the New Deal) of the State’.” In 1949, there was a $1.4 million PR attack by Whitaker and Baxter (A PR team) and the AMA (American Medical Association) on Free Health Care (Compulsory Health Insurance). The task of public relations is to “curtail Americans’ democratic expectations.” “Public relations is rarely intended to inform the population about the intricacies of an issue and is more often calculated to circumvent critical thinking.” Nice sentence: “Literacy is never just about reading; it is also about writing.”
Great book. I learned a lot and was really glad I read it. Fun to learn more of the role of PR historically played involving mind control of the American public.
By 1917, it had become apparent that “advertising techniques could also be used to sell social and political ideas and even to combat social discontent.” To Walter Lippman and his intellectual cronies, “the social sciences appealed less in their ability to create an informed public and more in their promise to help establish social control.” “By 1917, Creel was approaching the conclusion that ‘people do not live by bread alone; they live mostly by catch phrases’.” The Creel Commission thus “conscripted the advertising forces of the country on behalf of the war effort.” Who doesn’t like being forced to buy stuff, you neither want nor need? “Advertising had begun to associate goods with the emotional lives – the needs, cravings, aspirations, and fears – of the consumers to whom it spoke.”
This led to formally progressive speakers touring the country, participating “in an ideological policing function. Audiences were encouraged to identify, interrogate, and report (rat on) people in their communities who expressed anti-war sentiment.” How lucky that Jesus wasn’t still alive; he’d be the first imprisoned. Whew! “African-Americans – many of whom found it difficult to swallow the liberal rhetoric of the CPI (Creel Commission) while they were burdened by entrenched patterns of racism – were identified specifically as a troublesome group, in need of special attention.” Creel shamelessly publicly denied what he was doing was censorship – Funny how Netanyahu later steals Creel’s denial schtick when he tells Likud activists, “It doesn’t matter if justice is on your side. You have to depict your position as just.” Could Hitler have said it any better? To make truth even harder to raise its head, the US then passes the Espionage Act in 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 – so immediately, in the land of freedom and liberty that patriots boast about, any criticism of the Wilson Administration was made illegal. So many dissenting Americans were thrown in jail that in one case an adolescent girl was imprisoned for twenty years” (p.121). Pause to salute the American flag…
“Images of the enemy were built on a bedrock of fear, invoking an ineluctable climate of xenophobic paranoia.” The entire U.S. united in hate against the “other” with its citizens ratting on anyone for even mild dissension – imagine that being taught in history classes. Viva propaganda!
Elites during WWI intentionally governed “without the impediment of an active or participatory public.” Walter “Lippman argued that the average person was incapable of seeing that world (reality) clearly, much less understanding it.” The solution was mixing patronizing with patriotism. The goal was “to magnify emotion while undermining critical thought” - the same goal later for Hitler, and recently Trump. I make you respond to me emotionally w/o thinking – the goal of advertising, of propaganda, of corporate financed politicians, and exactly how Obama got elected – I’m intentionally an empty vessel, fill me with your hopes and dreams.
This all leads to the PR’s first hero – Edward Bernays, famous for realizing “fully that American 20th Century liberalism would be increasingly based on social control posing as democracy, and would be desperate to learn all the opportunities for social control that it could.” Then when visually exploited, this would be called what George Duhamel termed “a kind of masturbation of the eye.” For example, female Fox news reporters – “aimed at titillating the nervous system, more than educating the mind.” Again, respond to me emotionally w/o thinking. Also the goal of every abusive spouse. Film and radio dramatically soon made easy, this mass dissemination of thought control. Hollywood embraced all kinds of consumption: “The typical heroine wore expensive clothes, furs, and elegant jewels, and either lived in a mansion or flitted between the deluxe hotels of the world; the hero, usually without visible means of support, was a splendidly accoutered, [and] drove the fanciest automobile.” As a result: “Soon home appliances, radio sets, furniture, and even such luxuries as jewelry were being sold on the installment plan. By 1929, when apparently over 75 percent of the automobiles and probably more than half of all major appliances were sold on time payments, total consumer credit, it had been estimated, had reached a peak of about $7 billion.”
The advertising Industry saw itself as educating public opinion. “Unless we reach the people, others will, and the prejudice they create is more than likely to be injurious (to advertisers).” “Never before had corporate America engaged in a comparable effort to coordinate and redirect the thinking of the nation.” Publicity Directors get PR out to newspapers, radio, foreign press, parades, speakers, schools, clubs, and pro-business articles in company publications,.
This first involved national billboards with slogans like, “There’s No Way Like the American Way”, “What’s Good for Industry Is Good For You” or “World’s Highest Standard of Living”.
Quote from 1949: “Some 4,000 corporations now support whole ‘public relations’ departments and ‘programs’.” There was a “need to use public relations as a weapon in defense of ‘our present economic systems’ against the ‘expanding authority (continued threat of the New Deal) of the State’.” In 1949, there was a $1.4 million PR attack by Whitaker and Baxter (A PR team) and the AMA (American Medical Association) on Free Health Care (Compulsory Health Insurance). The task of public relations is to “curtail Americans’ democratic expectations.” “Public relations is rarely intended to inform the population about the intricacies of an issue and is more often calculated to circumvent critical thinking.” Nice sentence: “Literacy is never just about reading; it is also about writing.”
Great book. I learned a lot and was really glad I read it. Fun to learn more of the role of PR historically played involving mind control of the American public.
December 18, 2023
makes me not want to be a journalist anymore :) but ig there is some useful info :(
February 19, 2013
I've read a couple of books on early to mid twentieth century American history, and seen the fabulous 'Century of the Self.' So it's not like I'm all knowing on the subject of this book; despite that, I learned almost nothing from it. Ewen does a whole lot of summarising other people's work, and a bit of archive digging, but compared to Lears' 'Fables of Abundance,' or CoftheS, this is pretty rudimentary stuff.
It's not helped by Ewen's own massively incoherent nineties political doctrine, viz., that the solution to all problems is more democracy, where democracy means letting every individual have as much say as is humanly possible. Now, I agree with him that PR is generally used to push lies, damn lies and product, rather than to inform people. But... well, consider Walden II.
In Walden II, one man sets up a society in which everyone is conditioned to do the right thing. A visitor criticizes this for being 'unfree'; the master behaviorist asks what that could possibly mean, when everyone's getting what they want? He retorts that in this society people, who are inherently free and able to make up their own minds, are being forced to do these things, even if they want them. The behaviorist's answer is: look, you can't have it both ways. Either you think these people are capable of making up their own minds, in which case you can't get worried that I'm forcing them to do things they don't want to do; or you think these people aren't capable of making up their own minds, and then *you* have to take on a position of authority similar to mine, to lead them in a different direction.
Ewen is like the critical visitor to PR land: he thinks people are able to always make up their own minds (so, although he never says this, PR is useless). But he also thinks PR manipulates these entirely sovereign, hyper-rational people, which is bad. Well, it has to be one or the other. Either they're suggestible, and what you want isn't an end to PR, but a different kind of PR; or they're not suggestible, and PR is just a bit industry rip-off.
The sad fact is, our opinions are made up of other people's opinions. The only way to restrict the number of opinions we live in is to enact highly undemocratic laws against, say, billboards that blame the government for drought.
Less high-falutin'ly, the book effectively ends in the 1950s, for no explicit reason. The reason it ends then might be, I suspect, that in the late '50s and '60s, the PR people themselves accepted Ewen's implicit political theory: absolute individualism. Hard to criticize them then, I guess.
It's not helped by Ewen's own massively incoherent nineties political doctrine, viz., that the solution to all problems is more democracy, where democracy means letting every individual have as much say as is humanly possible. Now, I agree with him that PR is generally used to push lies, damn lies and product, rather than to inform people. But... well, consider Walden II.
In Walden II, one man sets up a society in which everyone is conditioned to do the right thing. A visitor criticizes this for being 'unfree'; the master behaviorist asks what that could possibly mean, when everyone's getting what they want? He retorts that in this society people, who are inherently free and able to make up their own minds, are being forced to do these things, even if they want them. The behaviorist's answer is: look, you can't have it both ways. Either you think these people are capable of making up their own minds, in which case you can't get worried that I'm forcing them to do things they don't want to do; or you think these people aren't capable of making up their own minds, and then *you* have to take on a position of authority similar to mine, to lead them in a different direction.
Ewen is like the critical visitor to PR land: he thinks people are able to always make up their own minds (so, although he never says this, PR is useless). But he also thinks PR manipulates these entirely sovereign, hyper-rational people, which is bad. Well, it has to be one or the other. Either they're suggestible, and what you want isn't an end to PR, but a different kind of PR; or they're not suggestible, and PR is just a bit industry rip-off.
The sad fact is, our opinions are made up of other people's opinions. The only way to restrict the number of opinions we live in is to enact highly undemocratic laws against, say, billboards that blame the government for drought.
Less high-falutin'ly, the book effectively ends in the 1950s, for no explicit reason. The reason it ends then might be, I suspect, that in the late '50s and '60s, the PR people themselves accepted Ewen's implicit political theory: absolute individualism. Hard to criticize them then, I guess.
July 3, 2016
This book is sort of uneven for me. It has some interesting tidbits about the history of PR, and the PR business, but there's also a lot that seems irrelevant. Sometimes it's irrelevant because, okay, you don't need to tell us all the details about a phone call you had; sometimes it's irrelevant because, while it's interesting from a (U.S.) history standpoint, it's not related to PR or spin. There are two-plus entire chapters about the 1920s/1930s/Depression/FDR that have pretty much *nothing* related to PR or the history of spin. I guess maybe he was setting the scene for some big turning point coming later, but in the meantime, *two chapters* with nothing immediately relevant to the topic of the book.
Read
September 24, 2020Put off reading this book because I had seen Adam Curtis' 'Century of the Self', which Ewen is featured in, so I wasn't sure how much more I was going to learn. The book discusses Edward Bernays like Century of the Self but I felt there was enough of a different narrative to worth the read. Historians, journalists and publicists all understand that they create narratives and those are subject to bias, Ewen is very clear is not putting a good spin on public relations.
***long summary below****
Ewen begins the tale in the Gilded Age, scientific reasoning has shattered age old assumptions. Mass consumption is diminishing adherence to the old ruling classes. William James is philosophizing about the objectivity of truth and Gustav Le Bon is agonizing over the ravenous masses. During the Progressive Era newspaper readership increases and the muckrackers and other investigative journalists are changing middle class attitudes. Initially, old barons like Rockefeller are ambivalent about public perceptions of their companies. Ivy Lee, Rockefeller's publicist appears as an awkward beginning. Companies like AT&T that have the first successes in winning over the public perception.
Ewen does not want this narrative to be seen as a pendulum, but from here he creates a narrative to the competing corporate publicists versus democratic mobilization, which ebb and flow through the decades of the 20th century. Each successive round out does the other in effectiveness. Another important point is that public relations was very much an off spring of journalism, as many of the journalists would transition into a public relations career. By World War I, progressive journalists were selling the public on making "the world safe for democracy." In the twenties, public relations really came into its own, with the classic indulgent consumerism appeal. By this time, new technology was creating new sophisticated weapons in the over public opinion. Statistics and photographs were seen as reshaping how an argument could be made, both of them seen as having an inherent truth, at the time.
During the depression, FDR mobilized the New Deal, and Ewen gushes a bit over how the president handled those personable fireside chats and harnessed the power of radio, unlike his predecessors. The book also mentions NAM (National Association of Manufacturers) and their public relations outfit to combat the New Deal. I had read about them before in Kevin Kruse's 'One Nation, Under God', which talks about corporate America's attempt to fuse religiosity and capitalism together. If you like PR!, you will probably like that book as well.
One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America
PR! was published in 1998, so just at the advent of the Internet, before social media and what is discussed today about silos, trolls and other concerns about antagonism between different people through the Internet - or where public relations has gone since the advent of big data and the internet. It doesn't seem that far off from Ewen's description of the 80s onward of corporate hegemony with different demographic groups siphoned off into different competing culture camps. Ewen's remedies boil down to greater educations over the topic of public relations and having more voices participate.
Overall, it piqued my interests in the when thinking about historical narrative, especially with a challenging topic like describing public behavior with nuance. Of course, there will be those publicists trying to tame the beast of public opinion and therefore tell an important story that unfolds, not just the particular events, but the motivations and interests of the powerful.
***long summary below****
Ewen begins the tale in the Gilded Age, scientific reasoning has shattered age old assumptions. Mass consumption is diminishing adherence to the old ruling classes. William James is philosophizing about the objectivity of truth and Gustav Le Bon is agonizing over the ravenous masses. During the Progressive Era newspaper readership increases and the muckrackers and other investigative journalists are changing middle class attitudes. Initially, old barons like Rockefeller are ambivalent about public perceptions of their companies. Ivy Lee, Rockefeller's publicist appears as an awkward beginning. Companies like AT&T that have the first successes in winning over the public perception.
Ewen does not want this narrative to be seen as a pendulum, but from here he creates a narrative to the competing corporate publicists versus democratic mobilization, which ebb and flow through the decades of the 20th century. Each successive round out does the other in effectiveness. Another important point is that public relations was very much an off spring of journalism, as many of the journalists would transition into a public relations career. By World War I, progressive journalists were selling the public on making "the world safe for democracy." In the twenties, public relations really came into its own, with the classic indulgent consumerism appeal. By this time, new technology was creating new sophisticated weapons in the over public opinion. Statistics and photographs were seen as reshaping how an argument could be made, both of them seen as having an inherent truth, at the time.
During the depression, FDR mobilized the New Deal, and Ewen gushes a bit over how the president handled those personable fireside chats and harnessed the power of radio, unlike his predecessors. The book also mentions NAM (National Association of Manufacturers) and their public relations outfit to combat the New Deal. I had read about them before in Kevin Kruse's 'One Nation, Under God', which talks about corporate America's attempt to fuse religiosity and capitalism together. If you like PR!, you will probably like that book as well.
One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America
PR! was published in 1998, so just at the advent of the Internet, before social media and what is discussed today about silos, trolls and other concerns about antagonism between different people through the Internet - or where public relations has gone since the advent of big data and the internet. It doesn't seem that far off from Ewen's description of the 80s onward of corporate hegemony with different demographic groups siphoned off into different competing culture camps. Ewen's remedies boil down to greater educations over the topic of public relations and having more voices participate.
Overall, it piqued my interests in the when thinking about historical narrative, especially with a challenging topic like describing public behavior with nuance. Of course, there will be those publicists trying to tame the beast of public opinion and therefore tell an important story that unfolds, not just the particular events, but the motivations and interests of the powerful.
July 3, 2022
Stuart Ewen is one of the best at what he does, and he takes no breaks in this book. Detailing a subject matter that should put you to sleep, Ewen manages to keep you clinging to every next word. He makes history personal, and never loses sight of why certain histories were made, or how specific outcomes were manufactured. Besides delivering a poignant and objective retelling of the birth and growth of public relations of the past, he offers a few haunting questions/predictions that remain highly relevant today.
If you want to understand how public opinion has been molded and how consent is manufactured, this book will not disappoint.
If you want to understand how public opinion has been molded and how consent is manufactured, this book will not disappoint.
July 20, 2017
An engaging history of PR that is relevant to today's professionals. It helps make sense of and put in context the strategies and tactics of PR today. A central tension in PR history is a view of what "the public" is, dating back to the 1920s when public opinion exploded--is the public a mass of unthinking folk who need to be led by (or manipulated with emotional appeal) by elites, or are they able and desiring to make informed and rational decisions? The answer affects not just PR but society and democracy itself.
October 7, 2019
A good overview of an important cultural force.
June 8, 2023
Decent overview, well-researched, with lots I didn't know
December 13, 2023
although there was some irrelevant tangents, this exposed me to such important history which i find essential for a communication student and just purely so so interesting
June 10, 2008
A tad bit too far down the dry and academic side of the scale, but...
A fascinating look at the rise and domination of PR and "spin" throughout the 20th Century. Starting with the Committee for Public Information, a governmental agency charged with drumming up public support for World War I, Ewan examines the ebbs and flows of John Q. Citizen's relations with corporate America through the muckraking period of the early 1900’s to the World War efforts to the Great Depression and on into the 60’s and then the Reagan dominated 80’s. The overriding focus of corporate PR has been to create the impression that the needs and wants of corporate America align perfectly with the needs and wants of the average working class American. It seems to be a game that can be kept going for only so long before it collapses under its own weight, no?
A fascinating look at the rise and domination of PR and "spin" throughout the 20th Century. Starting with the Committee for Public Information, a governmental agency charged with drumming up public support for World War I, Ewan examines the ebbs and flows of John Q. Citizen's relations with corporate America through the muckraking period of the early 1900’s to the World War efforts to the Great Depression and on into the 60’s and then the Reagan dominated 80’s. The overriding focus of corporate PR has been to create the impression that the needs and wants of corporate America align perfectly with the needs and wants of the average working class American. It seems to be a game that can be kept going for only so long before it collapses under its own weight, no?
June 5, 2024
it's certainly exhaustive. but this is pretty money as far as gems are concerned:
"Reagan's appeal was rooted in his remarkable capacity to gain the confidence of ordinary folks. He saw himself as one of them. "Would you laugh," he once asked rhetorically, "if I told you that I think, maybe, they see themselves and that I'm one of them?"
And, this:
"The multiplication of the number of people who have received advanced education has not only created a vast pool of trained personnel and alert citizens. It has resulted in millions of people who have been educated to think they should have a special place in society." from Philip Lesly.
"Reagan's appeal was rooted in his remarkable capacity to gain the confidence of ordinary folks. He saw himself as one of them. "Would you laugh," he once asked rhetorically, "if I told you that I think, maybe, they see themselves and that I'm one of them?"
And, this:
"The multiplication of the number of people who have received advanced education has not only created a vast pool of trained personnel and alert citizens. It has resulted in millions of people who have been educated to think they should have a special place in society." from Philip Lesly.
April 26, 2015
Although the author repeats his opinions again and again in different chapters, the historical examples he raises are pretty interesting and provoking. Recommend to people who wanna major in Public Relations or Communication.
April 26, 2008
The key to understanding the U. S. propaganda machine
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January 3, 2015Recommended by Shahid Bolsen
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