Chapter 3:

A Brief History of Public Relations

What do bookmakers, real estate appraiser, insurance companies and public relations companies all have in common?

They all utilize knowledge about the past to more acurately predict the future.

The idea of looking at the past to predict the future has always been a standard of all types of business in this country and it is no different for public relations.

As much as public relations may have changed over time, the fact remains that peoples behavior, over time, remains very similar. Therefore, the idea of looking at past results to help establish new strategies is an idea that will never go away.

A great example showing the static behavior of consumers, and people in general, is shown in this chapter. I will attempt to add to, and explain in more detail, the situation from the book.

Discussed on Pg. 62 is the ploy used by Bernays, in which he hired 10 women to walk down NYC's 5th Avenue with lit ciggarettes to combat certain notions about women smoking outdoors. This act inevitably created a buzz in the country and helped change the way many people looked at smoking.

This tactic is the idea of what is now known as "Social Proof." Social proof is one of the great marketing/public relations tactics used to make taboo subject's socially acceptable, new clothes seem fashionable, and new bars seem like the place to be.

The main idea behind social proof is the idea that if something is made to look popular and acceptable, no matter how crazy/outlandish/ridicolous it is, then more people will continue to accept it until it becomes the social norm.

Take for example my mentioning of the new bar earlier. Let's say some you and some friends want to go out on a Friday night to an area with 2 different bars. Bars 1 &2 are almost exactly the same. However, at bar 2 there is a line 50 people long and a man at the door checking a list and letting people in every few minutes. The second bar looks like you will have to wait for at least 30 minutes to go inside, while at the first bar you could walk right in.

Which one seems more appealing?

Say what you will, but many people would chose the bar that had the long line, no matter what the wait. This is the idea behind social proof. You create an image that promotes other people doing something you want them to and the masses will follow.

I believe the idea, of social proof, proves the point that human behavior is static. No matter how many know that social proof is just a marketing strategy, people will continue to act in these socially programmed ways, without even realizing they're doing it.

This is why the past is the predictor of the future. Because, really, human behavior falls into perdictable patterns. And if you can figure them out, like Bernays seemed to do in the smoking example, you will successful in any field, not just public relations.

Brandon