The Engineering of Consent
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"The Engineering of Consent" is an essay by Edward Bernays first published in 1947. He defines "engineering consent" as the art of manipulation of people; the masses, consumers, businesses, citizens or the government, to make them want things that they do not need by linking those products and ideas to their unconscious desires.
In other words Consumer Psychologists have already made the choice for us before we buy a certain product. This is achieved by manipulating desires on an unconscious level.
The central idea behind the engineering of consent is that the public or people should not be aware of the manipulation taking place.
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[edit] Women's Smoking
Edward Bernays was responsible in the late 1920s for converting attitudes towards women's smoking from a social taboo to a socially acceptable act. Indeed an act seen as attractive and even desirable by society.
He did this by associating women's smoking with the ideas of “power” and “freedom” which he did by using the slogan “Torches of Freedom”, during a famous parade in New York City.
The idea of "Engineering of Consent" was motivated by Freud’s idea that humans are irrational beings and are motivated primarily by inner desires hidden in their unconscious. If one understood what those unconscious desires were, then one could use this to one's advantage to sell products and increase sales.
[edit] Evolution
Of course the idea of linking products and ideas to people’s unconscious has evolved today and has taken other forms. A good example is shown in "subliminal messages" (whether in audio or visual form) being used in advertisements today .
[edit] Influence
This is not to say that all decisions that are made today are influenced by advertisements, movies and marketing. However, a great many decisions are influenced by those sources because one is exposed to those sources for many hours per day. Consequently, it is something that has to influence us, whether we are aware of it or not, because it is happening at the subconscious or unconscious level.
[edit] Quotes
"If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it?” — Edward L. Bernays
