Opinion... Bernays' Propaganda holds a message for modern PR

Written before the word ‘propaganda’ was besmirched by its enduring association with Fascism, Bernays’ book takes us back to the days when it was necessary to explain to senior executives why having access to wise corporate communications counsel was essential to the modern enterprise. For those of us who find ourselves making this very same case to owners and managers of Asian corporations, Bernays offers us a series of elegant talking points to help us patiently explain what is to us blindingly obvious.

For similar reasons, the book is also a superior introduction to the practice of public relations for any young person considering - or just starting out - in the craft, and to someone from journalism stepping over to the ‘dark side’.

But perhaps the greatest virtue of Propaganda is that reading it forces us back to the roots of corporate communications craft. Before public relations became synonymous with (and indistinguishable from) press agentry, before we became in the eyes of many mere ‘spin doctors’, and before we allowed tactics, tools, and technology to occupy the majority of our time, public relations counsel was a strategic and core function at the top of corporations.

The implicit message of Propaganda to practitioners in Asia is that if we refocus on the higher functions for which the craft was created, public relations - or corporate communications, or what-have-you - can play that strategic role for the emerging enterprises of the Asian century.

The problem is that as an industry we have chosen to build our agencies and develop our people to serve far different functions. Media relations dominates the agenda in an era when mainstream media’s role is, at best, changing, and our response as an industry to date has been on how to create ‘digital PR’ capabilities.

In Propaganda, Bernays sends us a telegram from 81 years ago to suggest that perhaps it is, instead, time to learn and commit to playing the role for which the public relations craft was created.

I am up for it. Who is with me?

David Wolf, CEO, Wolf Group Asia
[email protected]


This article was originally published in 8 October 2009 issue of Media.