When Advertising "Learned" to Sell Sex

At the end of his gossipy memoir on advertising, Bernays describes a meeting in which a psychiatrist looks at a proposed ad for cigarettes and proclaims the cigarette to be a phallic symbol. Use one man, one woman, one cigarette, and you have life. BernaysÆs comment?

ôThe use of psychoanalysis as the basis of advertising is common today, but I believe this may have been the first instance of its application to advertisingö (Bernays 141). BernaysÆ assertion bears examination, since, if it is true, then it does indeed deserve to be considered the first use of psychoanalysis in advertising. However, the construct image to which BernaysÆ referred was actually the construct of ôsexö instead of ôpsychoanalysis.ö The two terms are by no means synonymous, and using them as such is both alarming and contradictory.

This paper takes the stand that BernaysÆ actually meant ôsexö but was hesitant to use so blatant a concept, preferring to blanket it in the mystique of behavioralism. This idea will be examined in the following sections. First, we will examine the existence of psychological motivation in advertising, and then determine whether or not BernaysÆ observation has validity.

Otnes and Scott, (1996) address the concept that advertising and ritual are bi-directionally related and have a strong interactive flow of influence.

Moreover, advertising and ritual are influenced by other cultural institutions, both

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Some common words found in the essay are:
Sell Sex, Hill Bernays, Otnes Scott, Strike Green, Badzinski Mitchell, Dr BrillÆs, Psychology Advertising, Journal Advertising, Mitchell Effects, Scott LM, otnes scott, advertising ritual, ad question, psychology advertising, pawlowski badzinski mitchell, cigarette ad, pawlowski badzinski, bernaysÆ observation, phallic symbol, badzinski mitchell, smoke public, cigarette ad question,
Approximate Word count = 891
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page)

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