(Rather long video, so I'll summarize)
The above is a portion of a series known as The Century of the Self - Happiness Machines, which essentially looks at the origin of consumer manipulation from around 1917 until the beginning of the Second World War. Based around Freud's pessimistic views that people are not based in rationality, but animalistic instincts, he believed that the mass needed to be controlled in order to prevent chaos. To him civilization was not an evolution to come together, but a necessity to control the people from themselves and one another.
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His nephew, Edward Bernays, took his uncle's principle into practice in America. People were governed by subconscious desires and he used it to revolutionize the advertisement industry by targeting these hidden wants.
The Flapper Movement of smoking cigarettes in public for instance didn't begin as a movement of breaking free, but actually a motion brought about by Bernays to increase the sale of cigarettes. (Link) Though disposing of the taboo that was women smoking and providing a feeling of power, was some of that message lost when it was made in this manner? Bernays would argue no, and that fulfilling these desires made the people happy, thus docile and therefore pacified them of their animalistic natures. Women wanted power. Bernays gave them it. This was the moment where society was pushed from a "needs" view to one of "wants".
I can see where Bernay is coming from and how he was able to use this technique to control the public, but he's saying the masses are the equivalent to a herd of sheep. It's based on the idea that people are stupid. The biggest problem is that now we had people controlling people, meaning the potentiality for mistakes in this manner is not only possible, but likely. When the depression hit, the people had an even greater fall because they had been built up on the concept of "want" that was thrust onto them.
I typically dislike Freud and his theories generally because of the pessimism displayed. The concepts are genius and intriguing, but cast a very sad light on true human nature that I don't agree with. I mean we say that the public's reaction to the recession is one example of our chaotic nature, however our fall from grace was partially due to advertiser manipulation. What I really liked, and gave me hope was Roosevelt's idea of the common citizen being rational enough to have insight on how their country should be run, corresponding to the classical liberalism view we discussed. When the society was in ruin it wasn't consumerism that picked it back up, but a democratic view.
I would have loved to see the outcome of this line of thought further, however once society picked itself up and started walking, companies caught up and proceeded to do the same as it had before with success. The difference was that they were able to manipulate the marriage of Capitalism with Democracy instead of a struggle, which of course brings us to society today.
The idea of selling us what we want to make us happy is a genius idea, but, as the video shows, what we want isn't necessarily what is best for us. Companies don't care what they sell so long as they're turning a profit. The only way I think we can counteract this thought is by trying to think for ourselves. We need to change what we fundamentally want in order to alter the messages out there. Sex for instance sells and is in advertising because it subconsciously works, though can at times appear degrading. The smoking campaign however brought about power for women by bringing a subconscious message they wanted to come forward for the better. The intentions of the company were of course in their own interest, but it brought empowerment as well. Perhaps we could take the same approach with other ideas that need to come forward, like equality. This is all thinking on a giant scale of course. Independently, don't be afraid to be a black sheep.
Never stop questioning.
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