THE NEW PROPAGANDISTS
Who are the men who, without our realizing it, give us our ideas,
tell us whom to admire and whom to despise, what to believe about the
ownership of public utilities, about the tariff, about the price of
rubber, about the Dawes Plan, about immigration; who tell us how our
houses should be designed, what furniture we should put into them,
what menus we should serve on our table, what kind of shirts we must
wear, what sports we should indulge in, what plays we should see, what
charities we should support, what pictures we should admire, what slang
we should affect, what jokes we should laugh at?
If we set out to make a list of the men and women who, because of
their position in public life, might fairly be called the molders of
public opinion, we could quickly arrive at an extended list of persons
mentioned in “Who’s Who.” It would obviously include, the President
of the United States and the members of his Cabinet; the Senators
and Representatives in Congress; the Governors of our forty-eight
states; the presidents of the chambers of commerce in our hundred
largest cities, the chairmen of the boards of directors of our hundred
or more largest industrial corporations, the president of many of
the labor unions affiliated in the American Federation of Labor, the
national president of each of the national professional and fraternal
organizations, the president of each of the racial or language
societies in the country, the hundred leading newspaper and magazine
editors, the fifty most popular authors, the presidents of the fifty
leading charitable organizations, the twenty leading theatrical or
cinema producers, the hundred recognized leaders of fashion, the most
popular and influential clergymen in the hundred leading cities, the
presidents of our colleges and universities and the foremost members of
their faculties, the most powerful financiers in Wall Street, the most
noted amateurs of sport, and so on.
Such a list would comprise several thousand persons. But it is well
known that many of these leaders are themselves led, sometimes by
persons whose names are known to few. Many a congressman, in framing
his platform, follows the suggestions of a district boss whom few
persons outside the political machine have ever heard of. Eloquent
divines may have great influence in their communities, but often take
their doctrines from a higher ecclesiastical authority. The presidents
of chambers of commerce mold the thought of local business men
concerning public issues, but the opinions which they promulgate are
usually derived from some national authority. A presidential candidate
may be “drafted” in response to “overwhelming popular demand,” but it
is well known that his name may be decided upon by half a dozen men
sitting around a table in a hotel room.
In some instances the power of invisible wire-pullers is flagrant. The
power of the invisible cabinet which deliberated at the poker table
in a certain little green house in Washington has become a national
legend. There was a period in which the major policies of the national
government were dictated by a single man, Mark Hanna. A Simmons may,
for a few years, succeed in marshaling millions of men on a platform of
intolerance and violence.
Such persons typify in the public mind the type of ruler associated
with the phrase invisible government. But we do not often stop to think
that there are dictators in other fields whose influence is just as
decisive as that of the politicians I have mentioned. An Irene Castle
can establish the fashion of short hair which dominates nine-tenths of
the women who make any pretense to being fashionable. Paris fashion
leaders set the mode of the short skirt, for wearing which, twenty
years ago, any woman would simply have been arrested and thrown into
jail by the New York police, and the entire women’s clothing industry,
capitalized at hundreds of millions of dollars, must be reorganized to
conform to their dictum.
There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is
not generally realized to what extent the words and actions of our most
influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind
the scenes.
Nor, what is still more important, the extent to which our thoughts and
habits are modified by authorities.
In some departments of our daily life, in which we imagine ourselves
free agents, we are ruled by dictators exercising great power. A man
buying a suit of clothes imagines that he is choosing, according to his
taste and his personality, the kind of garment which he prefers. In
reality, he may be obeying the orders of an anonymous gentleman tailor
in London. This personage is the silent partner in a modest tailoring
establishment, which is patronized by gentlemen of fashion and princes
of the blood. He suggests to British noblemen and others a blue cloth
instead of gray, two buttons instead of three, or sleeves a quarter of
an inch narrower than last season. The distinguished customer approves
of the idea.
But how does this fact affect John Smith of Topeka?
The gentleman tailor is under contract with a certain large American
firm, which manufactures men’s suits, to send them instantly the
designs of the suits chosen by the leaders of London fashion. Upon
receiving the designs, with specifications as to color, weight and
texture, the firm immediately places an order with the cloth makers
for several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of cloth. The suits
made up according to the specifications are then advertised as the
latest fashion. The fashionable men in New York, Chicago, Boston
and Philadelphia wear them. And the Topeka man, recognizing this
leadership, does the same.
Women are just as subject to the commands of invisible government as
are men. A silk manufacturer, seeking a new market for its product,
suggested to a large manufacturer of shoes that women’s shoes should
be covered with silk to match their dresses. The idea was adopted and
systematically propagandized. A popular actress was persuaded to wear
the shoes. The fashion spread. The shoe firm was ready with the supply
to meet the created demand. And the silk company was ready with the
silk for more shoes.
The man who injected this idea into the shoe industry was ruling women
in one department of their social lives. Different men rule us in the
various departments of our lives. There may be one power behind the
throne in politics, another in the manipulation of the Federal discount
rate, and still another in the dictation of next season’s dances.
If there were a national invisible cabinet ruling our destinies (a
thing which is not impossible to conceive of) it would work through
certain group leaders on Tuesday for one purpose, and through an
entirely different set on Wednesday for another. The idea of invisible
government is relative. There may be a handful of men who control the
educational methods of the great majority of our schools. Yet from
another standpoint, every parent is a group leader with authority over
his or her children.
The invisible government tends to be concentrated in the hands of the
few because of the expense of manipulating the social machinery which
controls the opinions and habits of the masses. To advertise on a
scale which will reach fifty million persons is expensive. To reach
and persuade the group leaders who dictate the public’s thoughts and
actions is likewise expensive.
For this reason there is an increasing tendency to concentrate the
functions of propaganda in the hands of the propaganda specialist. This
specialist is more and more assuming a distinct place and function in
our national life.
New activities call for new nomenclature. The propagandist who
specializes in interpreting enterprises and ideas to the public, and in
interpreting the public to promulgators of new enterprises and ideas,
has come to be known by the name of “public relations counsel.”
The new profession of public relations has grown up because of the
increasing complexity of modern life and the consequent necessity for
making the actions of one part of the public understandable to other
sectors of the public. It is due, too, to the increasing dependence
of organized power of all sorts upon public opinion. Governments,
whether they are monarchical, constitutional, democratic or communist,
depend upon acquiescent public opinion for the success of their efforts
and, in fact, government is only government by virtue of public
acquiescence. Industries, public utilities, educational movements,
indeed all groups representing any concept or product, whether they are
majority or minority ideas, succeed only because of approving public
opinion. Public opinion is the unacknowledged partner in all broad
efforts.
The public relations counsel, then, is the agent who, working with
modern media of communication and the group formations of society,
brings an idea to the consciousness of the public. But he is a great
deal more than that. He is concerned with courses of action, doctrines,
systems and opinions, and the securing of public support for them.
He is also concerned with tangible things such as manufactured and
raw products. He is concerned with public utilities, with large trade
groups and associations representing entire industries.
He functions primarily as an adviser to his client, very much as a
lawyer does. A lawyer concentrates on the legal aspects of his client’s
business. A counsel on public relations concentrates on the public
contacts of his client’s business. Every phase of his client’s ideas,
products or activities which may affect the public or in which the
public may have an interest is part of his function.
For instance, in the specific problems of the manufacturer he examines
the product, the markets, the way in which the public reacts to the
product, the attitude of the employees to the public and towards the
product, and the coöperation of the distribution agencies.
The counsel on public relations, after he has examined all these and
other factors, endeavors to shape the actions of his client so that
they will gain the interest, the approval and the acceptance of the
public.
The means by which the public is apprised of the actions of his client
are as varied as the means of communication themselves, such as
conversation, letters, the stage, the motion picture, the radio, the
lecture platform, the magazine, the daily newspaper. The counsel on
public relations is not an advertising man but he advocates advertising
where that is indicated. Very often he is called in by an advertising
agency to supplement its work on behalf of a client. His work and that
of the advertising agency do not conflict with or duplicate each other.
His first efforts are, naturally, devoted to analyzing his client’s
problems and making sure that what he has to offer the public is
something which the public accepts or can be brought to accept. It
is futile to attempt to sell an idea or to prepare the ground for a
product that is basically unsound.
For example, an orphan asylum is worried by a falling off in
contributions and a puzzling attitude of indifference or hostility on
the part of the public. The counsel on public relations may discover
upon analysis that the public, alive to modern sociological trends,
subconsciously criticizes the institution because it is not organized
on the new “cottage plan.” He will advise modification of the client in
this respect. Or a railroad may be urged to put on a fast train for the
sake of the prestige which it will lend to the road’s name, and hence
to its stocks and bonds.
If the corset makers, for instance, wished to bring their product
into fashion again, he would unquestionably advise that the plan was
impossible, since women have definitely emancipated themselves from
the old-style corset. Yet his fashion advisers might report that women
might be persuaded to adopt a certain type of girdle which eliminated
the unhealthful features of the corset.
His next effort is to analyze his public. He studies the groups which
must be reached, and the leaders through whom he may approach these
groups. Social groups, economic groups, geographical groups, age
groups, doctrinal groups, language groups, cultural groups, all these
represent the divisions through which, on behalf of his client, he may
talk to the public.
Only after this double analysis has been made and the results collated,
has the time come for the next step, the formulation of policies
governing the general practice, procedure and habits of the client
in all those aspects in which he comes in contact with the public.
And only when these policies have been agreed upon is it time for the
fourth step.
The first recognition of the distinct functions of the public relations
counsel arose, perhaps, in the early years of the present century as
a result of the insurance scandals coincident with the muck-raking of
corporate finance in the popular magazines. The interests thus attacked
suddenly realized that they were completely out of touch with the
public they were professing to serve, and required expert advice to
show them how they could understand the public and interpret themselves
to it.
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, prompted by the most
fundamental self-interest, initiated a conscious, directed effort
to change the attitude of the public toward insurance companies in
general, and toward itself in particular, to its profit and the
public’s benefit.
It tried to make a majority movement of itself by getting the public
to buy its policies. It reached the public at every point of its
corporate and separate existences. To communities it gave health
surveys and expert counsel. To individuals it gave health creeds and
advice. Even the building in which the corporation was located was
made a picturesque landmark to see and remember, in other words to
carry on the associative process. And so this company came to have a
broad general acceptance. The number and amount of its policies grew
constantly, as its broad contacts with society increased.
Within a decade, many large corporations were employing public
relations counsel under one title or another, for they had come to
recognize that they depended upon public good will for their continued
prosperity. It was no longer true that it was “none of the public’s
business” how the affairs of a corporation were managed. They were
obliged to convince the public that they were conforming to its demands
as to honesty and fairness. Thus a corporation might discover that
its labor policy was causing public resentment, and might introduce a
more enlightened policy solely for the sake of general good will. Or
a department store, hunting for the cause of diminishing sales, might
discover that its clerks had a reputation for bad manners, and initiate
formal instruction in courtesy and tact.
The public relations expert may be known as public relations director
or counsel. Often he is called secretary or vice-president or director.
Sometimes he is known as cabinet officer or commissioner. By whatever
title he may be called, his function is well defined and his advice
has definite bearing on the conduct of the group or individual with
whom he is working.
Many persons still believe that the public relations counsel is a
propagandist and nothing else. But, on the contrary, the stage at
which many suppose he starts his activities may actually be the
stage at which he ends them. After the public and the client are
thoroughly analyzed and policies have been formulated, his work may
be finished. In other cases the work of the public relations counsel
must be continuous to be effective. For in many instances only by
a careful system of constant, thorough and frank information will
the public understand and appreciate the value of what a merchant,
educator or statesman is doing. The counsel on public relations must
maintain constant vigilance, because inadequate information, or
false information from unknown sources, may have results of enormous
importance. A single false rumor at a critical moment may drive down
the price of a corporation’s stock, causing a loss of millions to
stockholders. An air of secrecy or mystery about a corporation’s
financial dealings may breed a general suspicion capable of acting as
an invisible drag on the company’s whole dealings with the public. The
counsel on public relations must be in a position to deal effectively
with rumors and suspicions, attempting to stop them at their source,
counteracting them promptly with correct or more complete information
through channels which will be most effective, or best of all
establishing such relations of confidence in the concern’s integrity
that rumors and suspicions will have no opportunity to take root.
His function may include the discovery of new markets, the existence of
which had been unsuspected.
If we accept public relations as a profession, we must also expect
it to have both ideals and ethics. The ideal of the profession is a
pragmatic one. It is to make the producer, whether that producer be a
legislature making laws or a manufacturer making a commercial product,
understand what the public wants and to make the public understand the
objectives of the producer. In relation to industry, the ideal of the
profession is to eliminate the waste and the friction that result when
industry does things or makes things which its public does not want,
or when the public does not understand what is being offered it. For
example, the telephone companies maintain extensive public relations
departments to explain what they are doing, so that energy may not be
burned up in the friction of misunderstanding. A detailed description,
for example, of the immense and scientific care which the company takes
to choose clearly understandable and distinguishable exchange names,
helps the public to appreciate the effort that is being made to give
good service, and stimulates it to coöperate by enunciating clearly.
It aims to bring about an understanding between educators and educated,
between government and people, between charitable institutions and
contributors, between nation and nation.
The profession of public relations counsel is developing for itself
an ethical code which compares favorably with that governing the
legal and medical professions. In part, this code is forced upon the
public relations counsel by the very conditions of his work. While
recognizing, just as the lawyer does, that every one has the right to
present his case in its best light, he nevertheless refuses a client
whom he believes to be dishonest, a product which he believes to be
fraudulent, or a cause which he believes to be antisocial. One reason
for this is that, even though a special pleader, he is not dissociated
from the client in the public’s mind. Another reason is that while
he is pleading before the court—the court of public opinion—he is at
the same time trying to affect that court’s judgments and actions. In
law, the judge and jury hold the deciding balance of power. In public
opinion, the public relations counsel is judge and jury, because
through his pleading of a case the public may accede to his opinion and
judgment.
He does not accept a client whose interests conflict with those of
another client. He does not accept a client whose case he believes to
be hopeless or whose product he believes to be unmarketable.
He should be candid in his dealings. It must be repeated that his
business is not to fool or hoodwink the public. If he were to get such
a reputation, his usefulness in his profession would be at an end. When
he is sending out propaganda material, it is clearly labeled as to
source. The editor knows from whom it comes and what its purpose is,
and accepts or rejects it on its merits as news.