On this week’s episode we’re talking about friend of the shop Edward Bernays. Known as “the father of public relations,” Bernays had an enormous influence on the way that products—and politics—are marketed to the American public. In the 1920’s he put a spin on Lucky Strike cigarettes as ‘Torches of Freedom’ (then worked on anti-smoking campaigns in the 1970’s) and he helped sell the idea that a modestly left-leaning Central American government was a communist menace in our own backyard. More importantly for our purposes, during the post-war housing boom he persuaded builders to include bookshelves in new homes, in a clever effort to sell more books. Learn more about Bernays, including how he met Ken, on today’s #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #116 - Self-Service Food Stores
Today we’re talking about Self-Service Food Stores, a 1946 book published by the trade magazine The Progressive Grocer. The book evokes the enormous post-war changes in the way that Americans shopped for food, as a world of milkmen, butchers, and mom-and-pop grocery shops gave way to gleaming new supermarkets that offered lower prices, pre-packaged goods, and seemingly unlimited selection. These changes were made possible by the newly built highway system, advances in preservation and refrigeration, and produce imports from overseas. In this episode we reflect on how quickly the once futuristic supermarket has come to seem like the most natural way to buy groceries, and the possible social cost of all that convenience and fresh fruit.
Brattlecast #21 - The Spin Doctor
Ken and Jordan dive deeply into the work of Edward Bernays, "the father of public relations" and a longtime friend of the Gloss family. Learn about Bernays' role in building the modern American home and why he invested so much in the color green.
