Ever hear of the "age-old adage" that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day"? Do you refer to "bacon and eggs" as a quintessentially "American breakfast"?
More importantly, do you believe them to be true?
Both are the creation of the public-relations genius (or evil genius) Edward Bernays, and were created to increase sales of bacon. Effectively, it involves manipulation via using "third-party authorities" to plead the cause.
First, doctors were polled on the "virtues of a heavy breakfast". Then, other doctors were polled with the adage that their colleagues thought that "heavy breakfasts were virtuous for the following reasons" and "did they agree with it?" (Psychology being what it is very few people have the guts to disagree with their colleagues.) Then, it was publicized that "most doctors recommend a heavy breakfast", "bacon and eggs are a heavy breakfast", "most Americans like bacon and eggs", etc. and voilà! Instant Americana.
Same goes for pancakes by the way. A pure creation of Dr. Bernays' propaganda.
Morals, if any?
Don't believe "received opinion", and "authenticity" is a dubious beast.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Incidentally, Edward Bernays wrote a book on this subject called Propaganda, and another called Public Relations.
You don't have to take my word for it; you can get it straight from the master's mouth.
Post a Comment