The Century of the Self Response
Learning about the person Edward Bernays was a very interesting process for me. I didn’t know whether to praise the man for being a genius or condemn him for penetrating and exploiting the psyche of the American consuming public. Nevertheless, all the information presented in this documentary was completely new to me. I never understood the importance that Freud’s psychoanalytic theories had on the formation of the consumerist society we all know and love. I think it’s impossible not to see Bernays tactics or Freud’s theories in today’s media. Now, more than ever, advertisers are aiming to exploit our implicit desires as human beings. From the car commercial, where a company’s vehicle is being driven against the backdrop of an expansive mountain vista to a clothing company’s add in which their clothes aren’t being modeled to make way for exposing skin, Bernays tactic of selling the meaning beyond the images is in full force amongst today’s society.
