PR Propaganda Unyielding during WWII

Public Relations is still a fairly new field and idea that dates back to the 20th century. Edward Bernays and Ivy Lee are considered the founding fathers of the field of public relations. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) defines it as "a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics." Berneys helped President Woodrow Wilson propagandize to rally American support of allied war aims during World War I. He is most popularly known for organizing a march called the "Torches of Freedom," which was a public relations stunt to increase the [female] demand for Lucky Strike cigarettes. A group of young women, with their males companions, marched in a parade all lighting Lucky Strike cigarettes, which was a symbolic gesture of female liberation. Form that point forward, it was no longer a taboo for women to smoke in public. Bernays was also behind the 1930s Dixie Cup campaign...you know those red plastic cups you see everywhere? The campaign was designed to convince people not to reuse bottles/cups but that disposable cups were more sanitary.

Ivy Lee is best known for taking the rotten image of the Rockefellers [Oil Company monopoly] and making the public fall in love with them, by depicting them as philanthropists invested in the lives of their workers. Before that point, the Rockefellers were always depicted in newspaper comics as fat, greedy, mean, money-hungry people. Because Ivy Lee took the image of a corrupt family and turned it into gold, many adopted the nickname for him, Poison Ivy.

These two men were masterminds when it came to knowing how to shape public opinion about ideas, people, and products. There is an art and strategy to the madness :) For a PR professional, if the reputation/image of the company, person, or product is sour then it is their job to figure out how to reverse it.

In my History since 1865 class, we are now analyzing WWII and since we're on the topic of PR, an article that was published in LIFE magazine September 20, 1943, embodies the shock value/emotion that effective PR can stir up. The article was about three young men who died in the war and beside the article was a picture of the three American soldiers (killed by Japanese) lying dead. This was unusual and shocking to readers because before this point, magazines and newspapers did not publish real images from the war because they thought showing raw images or the war was too inappropriate and harsh for the people to see. Yet it caused many people to support the war in opposition of the Japanese and Germans and feel a strong sense of pride in U.S. ideals of democracy and freedom.

Despite their deaths, the article depicts these young men as heros. It used their deaths to promote Americans to action in the war...“And yet, miraculously it is not too late; miraculously the battle still goes on, and we can still see, in every line of action, why it is that American boys win…We can still sense the high optimism of men who have never know oppression.”