Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939)
- psychoanalysis.
- hidden primitive sexual desires/forces and animal instincts which need controlling,
- otherwise civilised society does not work.
- repressed desires. - Freud's model of personality structure,
- unconscious and conscious mind.
- id, ego and superego.
Edward Bernays (1891 - 1995)
- press agent, employed by public information in WW1 (propaganda).
- birth of public relations (PR).
- based on ideas of Freud (his uncle).
- 1929 Easter day parade
- hired actresses to walk down parade and light up cigarettes at symbolic points (PR stunt).
- "Torches of Freedom".
- product placement/celebrity endorsements.
- use of pseudo-scientific reports.
- attempts to attach desirable qualities to products not often considered desirable.
Fordism
- Henry Ford (1863 - 1947).
- making through production lines,
- speed of production/mass production. - crisis of over-production and under-consumption?
- a society based on needs to one based on desires.
1957
- marketing hidden needs (8 tactics from 'The Hidden Persuaders', Vance Packard):
- selling emotional security.
- selling reassurance of worth.
- selling ego-gratification.
- selling creative outlets.
- selling love objects.
- selling sense of power.
- selling sense of roots.
- selling immortality.
1920
- 'Manufacturing Consent', Walter Lippmann.
- a new elite needed.
- October 24, 1929
- 'Black Tuesday'.
- The Great Depression.
Roosevelt and the 'New Deal' (1933 - 1936)
- welfare state.
- regulated markets, etc.
- New York World's Fair (1940)
- advertising consumerism.
- Bernays, propaganda ('democracity').
- beliefs in freedom, etc.
Conclusion
- consumerism is an ideological project.
- we believe that through consumption our desires can be met.
- The Consumer Self.
- the legacy of Bernays/PR can be felt in all aspects of 21st Century society.
- conflicts between alternative models of social organisation continue today.
- to what extent are our lives 'free' under the Western consumerist system?
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