The Freud Video

This video overall was very interesting, but what struck me the most was in the beginning about Edward Bernays. First of all, I think it’s amazing that this famous opera singer happened to be Freud’s nephew. It’s strange to think that a famous psychoanalyst and an incredibly famous opera singer are related. Anyway, what was most fascinating about this is how Bernays used Freud to almost control what people thought. Bernays manipulated the human psyche to make money. The “torches of freedom” idea astounds me. I think its amazing how he took one taboo (women not being able to smoke), and turned it into a phenomenon. Although it’s creepy to think that this idea is about women challenging men’s power by gaining their own penis (the cigarette), it’s still amazing because it worked. Even in today’s media, cigarettes are still mostly targeted towards women. They have a new brand out, entitled Camel number 9’s, that come in a pink and black box, and the cigarette itself has pretty blue lining on the paper. When you see shows like America’s next top model, or other fashion shows, cigarettes still play a dominant part. It’s just completely fascinating to see how the human psyche can be manipulated into wanting things it might not necessarily want. Bernays definitely proved this.