With some effort, the masses can be “fed” any absurd idea
In 1929, Lucky Strike, an American cigarette company, commissioned a skilled PR specialist, Edward Bernays, to find ways to expand the market. Bernays quickly realized that the “passive” segment of the market was women. How to convince women and girls to start smoking? Very simple. Convince them that smoking is “prestigious,” that it signifies being sophisticated, “emancipated,” liberal, and progressive. Thus, intelligent, creative women simply “must” smoke.
A vigorous nationwide advertising campaign began, featuring appropriate pictures and texts. A “flash mob,” in modern parlance, was organized under the title “Light Your Torch of Freedom.” In other words, any woman lighting a cigarette was symbolically lighting a torch of freedom.
Did that PR campaign serve a good purpose? Obviously not. Because smoking is harmful to health.
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Let’s recall another “textbook” project of Bernays, the consequences of which are at least dubious. This time he was fulfilling an order for a bacon company. The advertising master wrote to 500 doctors with the following question: which breakfast is more beneficial: light or nourishing? There was manipulation in the question itself. The boundaries of “light” are unclear, and the calories and other objective criteria that allow breakfast to be considered “nutritious” are not defined. Naturally, 450 of the 500 doctors spoke in favor of “nourishment” (what doctor would recommend malnutrition?), and a few cited the bacon omelette as an example.
Bernays built his campaign on doctors prescribing bacon omelettes for breakfast. Moreover, such a breakfast was declared “national” and “purely American,” although before the 1920s and 30s, Americans typically had breakfast with coffee and pie. Today, I think, no one can unequivocally claim that eating pork in the morning is highly beneficial.
What is manipulation? When you want to achieve your goal but don’t declare it openly, and to hide your real intentions, you declare other, false but pleasant goals that will help realize your real intention. In the case of Bernays, the real goal was to sell cigarettes or bacon and profit from it. But to “win” that goal, other “justifications” appealing to the consumer’s heart were presented.
What is manipulation? When you want to achieve your goal but don’t declare it openly, and to hide your real intentions, you declare other, false but pleasant goals that will help realize your real intention.
In the case of Bernays, the real goal was to sell cigarettes or bacon and profit from it. But to “win” that goal, other “justifications” appealing to the consumer’s heart were presented.
The “justifications” for the constitutional amendments in Armenia are from the same series. The real goal is to fulfill Aliyev’s next demand. But this is not directly stated. Instead, many other “arguments” of a populist nature are made. I will present some of them:
- The Constitution was adopted with falsifications.
- The Constitution was adopted during the time of the “robber formers.”
- If the Constitution is not changed, the “former” will come to power (the Russians, satanists, aliens and others).
- If the Constitution is not changed, a war will begin.
- The Constitution should be changed to follow the path of democracy and European integration.
On the occasion of Constitution Day, the Prime Minister stated that the “citizen of the Republic of Armenia” wants this or that. Yes, maybe they do. Just like American women “wanted” to smoke in the 1920s and 30s.
Aram Abrahamyan
