Makin’ Bacon

You may have noticed that people are generally resistant to change. That is why it is always fascinating when whole populations change attitudes or eating habits relatively rapidly. How does that happen? That happens, as far as I can tell, only with fairly intense ad campaigns, aka lobbying aka propaganda.

Freedom Torches=
Woo hoo, cough, cough..

Long ago when Edward Bernays, the Father of Public Relations, discovered that the masses could be persuaded to do just about anything, he convinced America that denying women the “right” to smoke was oppressive. He did this by having a bunch of attractive women light up their “freedom torches” at a major public event and making sure the story was covered widely.

Later he was hired to sell bacon and eggs. Americans were dashing off to work with only coffee and toast under their belts, so Bernays polled a bunch of doctors:…