Whispering Campaigns And Publicity Projects Revealed On Gigantic Scale

With the purpose of investigating possibilities for research into the now highly developed technique of monster publicity projects and political campaigns, a committee appointed by the Social Science Research Council, has been meeting in Washington and New York, interviewing political managers, representatives of news services, directors of the press bureaus in Federal Departments, and trade association executives.

Dr. E. P. Herring, instructor and tutor in Government is in charge of the political section of the committee's research.

Realizing that new and immensely powerful forces can be brought to influence public opinion in favor of special interests, and that many individuals are finding their reputations entirely dominated by forces completely beyond their control, the committee believes that the "tremendously significant social phenomena" should be made available for study by the historian and student. While ballyhoo artists and press agents have existed for many decades, a new technician, the "public relations counsel," has been created, and occupies now much the same status as a doctor or a lawyer.

"Public Relations Counsel"

Two well-known public relations counsel whom the committee interviewed were Edward Bernays, promoter of the celebration of Thomas Edison's eightieth birthday, and Ivy Lee, counsel for John D. Rockefeller, the Pennsylvania Railroad, and Charles A. Lindbergh. The committee also is interested in the counter-publicity organizations which newspapers have formed to protect their advertising space against the competition of artificial news items. Such a society is the American Newspaper Publishing Association that sends its members regular bulletins on the latest publicity stunts and stories and their sources. This association also helps protect the public against accepting as news material what is carefully prepared to favor special commercial, personal, or political interests.

Whispering Campaigns

Tactics in political whispering campaigns were also described to the committee. Men were hired to go into smoking cars and spread insinuating reports of President Wilson's relations with Mrs. Peck, an old friend with whom he corresponded regularly. This was met by having a friend write an open letter to a New York newspaper, praising the ideal relations between the two. Whispering strategists dictated the rumor that President Harding had Negro blood. Should such methods be used to create the belief that Franklin D. Roosevelt '03, is physically unable to do the work of a president, proper tactics would be to send him on a long tour of the country, standing on the rear of train platforms, haranguing the crowds, all to be done without the aid of crutches, campaign managers told the committee. There is at present a completely groundless rumor to the effect that Newton D. Baker has angina pectoris; but then, as one Republican campaign manager put it, "Every Democratic candidate has something wrong with him."

Publicity Stunts

Dr. Herring told of many ingenious publicity stunts and devices for influencing public opinion which were brought to the notice of the committee. Several months ago, a professor at Columbia University declared that all persons who whistled with their lips were morons. This was merely an ingenious method of getting his name in print before publishing one of his books. The manufacturer of a patent reducing medicine hired 40 New York chorus girls and, after dividing the city into zones, sent them on a circuit to all the drug-stores, where they bought tooth-paste, aspirin, etc., and finally asked for the reducing product. If the store did not have any in stock the girls dramatically refused to make any purchases at all. Due to this campaign, an enormous amount of the product was sold by the wholesalers.

Records Destroyed

Records of political and advertising campaigns, however, are usually destroyed, and the fact that much of the business is conducted over the telephone makes it extremely difficult to preserve any data on them. The committee in thus trying to find if there is not some way in which students can gain actual confidential information on these varied and, at times, remarkably subtle methods of influencing public opinion.

"The "Eat More Wheat" campaign was instituted by a well-known and widely advertised beauty parlor to popularize curves. Rather than merely give "hand-outs" to the reporters, the new publicity men attempt to create new situations which the reporters cannot ignore. Recently, many newspapers carried pictures of the driver of an ox-cart shaking hands with President Hoover. The man was supposed to have drives his ox-cart full of Aroostook potatoes all the way from Maine to Washington. In such a fashion, the potato growen set the name of their product before the public. The actual facts of the matter were that the potatoes were loaded of from a train on the outskirts of Washington. Makers of corn syrup sent around to newspaper household departments, recipes for cooking dishes they required corn syrup.

Most advertising is done on a hunch and it is extremely difficult to tell just what is the effect of a given advertisement. It has been found, however, this the same appeal works here and in Europe. Testimonial advertisements for cold creams are more effective when the writer is pretty and has a fairly widely recognized name than when the name is world famous and the face old or haggard.