Why Did Doctors Endorse Smoking as Healthy? The Answer Will Change How You Evaluate Modern Health Advice

Many of us are too young to remember a time when doctors endorsed smoking as healthy....

This was not an accident.

This was a coordinated "public relations" campaign (propaganda) by the cigarette companies and the man who wrote THE book on Propaganda himself...Edward Bernays.

Interesting fact...his uncle was Sigmund Freud.

He spent a lot of time learning about human nature and psychology from his uncle.

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Bernays had a formula for crystallizing public opinion in a way that made smoking represent something more.

- He would attach private interests (tobacco companies) to public movements (the feminine movement where cigarettes were "torches of freedom").

- He would generate news and stories to as many media channels as possible because he knew news drove demand for what he was selling.

- He created "sticky phrases" that could be easily repeated (e.g "public relations" instead of "propaganda").

- He would discredit research showing the harm of smoking.

Even when he did NOT believe in smoking himself...

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And soon he realized that the same "public relations" strategies could be used in politics...

To reshape how people felt about a political figures and policies.

To appeal to people's raw emotions and instincts rather than critical thinking.

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We live in a wild time where our attitudes and behaviors can be shaped by those who have incentives that don't align with our personal well-being and values.

I always ask myself when I see a widespread, repeated and oddly coordinated PR campaigns...

• Who stands to gain the most $$$ from this being accepted as true?

• Who has the most to $$$ lose?

• How does this compare to real life and my professional experience?

• Does this actually affect my life directly or is it a way to distract me from what is important to me?

Once you learn about Bernays's formula, you can't unsee it.

Check out the book, The Father of Spin by Larry Tye to dive deeper into the world of crystallizing public opinion. (Not an affiliate link.)

P.S. Schedule a consultation here if you want help sorting through what are really facts and what could be a coordinated PR campaign. Schedule one here https://l.bttr.to/uYxzi or reach out via email.