Bacon and eggs for breakfast, women smoking in public, and the very idea of “public relations”: all of them were engineered by one man, Edward Bernays, and he explained exactly how he did it in a short book called Propaganda in 1928.
His core claim is the uncomfortable part: in a modern society, a small number of people who understand mass psychology shape what everyone else thinks, buys and votes for, and most of us never notice. He didn’t mean it as a warning. He meant it as a job description.
Below is the book chapter by chapter, the real campaigns behind it, and one thing you can do with each idea to stop being the target.
The book in one line: opinions aren’t formed by individuals thinking things through. They’re shaped by groups, leaders and symbols, and whoever controls those shapes the public.
Who was Edward Bernays?
Bernays (1891–1995) was Sigmund Freud’s nephew, and he took his uncle’s ideas about the unconscious mind and used them to sell things. During the First World War he worked for the US Committee on Public Information, the government’s propaganda office. Afterwards he asked a simple question: if propaganda can sell a war, why not soap, cigarettes or political candidates? He called his new job “counsel on public relations”, a phrase he helped popularise because “propaganda” had become a dirty word.
The campaigns that prove it worked
Bacon and eggs. In the 1920s, a meat-packing company wanted to sell more bacon. Instead of advertising bacon, Bernays’s approach was to get a doctor to ask thousands of other physicians whether a heavier breakfast was healthier, then publicise the answer. Newspapers reported that doctors recommended a hearty breakfast, and bacon and eggs became “the” American breakfast.
“Torches of Freedom.” In 1929, smoking in public was taboo for women, which cost tobacco companies half their market. Bernays arranged for young women to light cigarettes during New York’s Easter Parade and tipped off the press that they were lighting “torches of freedom”. Cigarettes became a symbol of women’s liberation.
Neither was presented as an ad. Both changed behaviour for decades.
The book, chapter by chapter
1. Organizing chaos
The idea: modern societies are too complex for each person to think everything through, so a small “invisible government” of opinion-shapers makes most choices for us: what to wear, eat, value and vote for. Bernays saw this as necessary, not sinister.
Your move Pick one strong opinion you hold and trace it back: where did it actually come from?
2. The new propaganda
The idea: propaganda isn’t lies on posters. It’s any consistent effort to create or shape events that change how the public relates to an idea, a company or a group.
Your move Next time something is suddenly “everywhere”, ask who benefits from it being everywhere.
3. The new propagandists
The idea: the people doing this are specialists: PR counsellors who understand groups, leaders and media, and who are paid to “engineer consent”.
Your move Read one press release from a company you follow, then find the news articles based on it. Notice how much was copied.
4. The psychology of public relations
The idea: people don’t follow facts, they follow group leaders, habits and emotional symbols. Change the leaders or the symbols and the crowd follows.
Your move Notice which “experts” or influencers you trust on a topic, and ask what they’re paid by.
5. Business and the public
The idea: companies shouldn’t just advertise products, they should shape the circumstances that create demand: new customs, new “needs”, new ideas of what’s normal.
Your move Before a big purchase, ask: did I want this before someone made it feel normal to want it?
6. Propaganda and political leadership
The idea: politicians must understand mass psychology to lead; elections are won by creating events and symbols, not by policy papers.
Your move For the next political story that makes you angry, look for the event that was created to make you feel that way.
7. Women’s activities and propaganda
The idea: organised groups (in Bernays’s day, women’s organisations) can use the same tools to push social change.
Your move Notice that the same techniques work for good causes too. The tool isn’t the problem; hiding it is.
8. Propaganda for education
The idea: universities and schools need to “sell” ideas and earn public support like anyone else.
Your move When you see a study in the news, check who funded it and whether the headline matches the findings.
9. Propaganda in social service
The idea: charities and public-health campaigns depend on the same methods to change behaviour.
Your move Compare a charity’s emotional ad with its actual published results.
10. Art and science
The idea: even taste in art, design and science is shaped by institutions and tastemakers, not just by merit.
Your move Ask why you like something you like. Who told you it was good first?
11. The mechanics of propaganda
The idea: the toolkit: newspapers, magazines, radio, lectures, staged events. Today you’d add social media, influencers and algorithms, but the principles haven’t changed.
Your move Spend one day counting how many things you see that were placed there on purpose to change your mind.
Why it matters even more today
Bernays had newspapers and radio. Today the same principles run through algorithms that know your emotions better than any PR man ever could. Influencer marketing is the “group leader” idea at scale. Viral outrage is the “created event”. If you understand Propaganda, you can see the wiring behind half of what crosses your feed.
Is the Propaganda audiobook worth it?
Absolutely, and it might be free: Propaganda was published in 1928, so in the US it’s now in the public domain. Look for free volunteer recordings (for example on LibriVox) as well as the paid versions. It’s short (a few hours), which makes it one of the highest-value listens on this list.
The one thing to do this week
If you only do one thing: when something makes you feel a strong emotion online, pause and ask “who wants me to feel this, and what do they want me to do next?” That one question is Bernays’s whole book, turned back on itself.
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