If asked to name ten of the most influential individuals in American history, few would think of Edward Bernays. Yet, he definitely ranks near the top as having had an enormous influence on the American life. Bernays’ accomplishments are legend to a very select and powerful segment of the corporate and political world. In many ways he handed the giants of commerce and politics the reins of public opinion making it possible for them to “guide” the subconscious thought process of the masses, i.e. you and me.

Edward Bernays was the nephew and devotee of Sigmond Freud, the father of modern psychoanalysis. Bernays applied the research findings and theories of his uncle to the systematic controlling of public opinion. He was one of the founding founders of modern marketing and public relations. Bernays concluded that people are driven more by emotions and base instincts than by rational thinking. He contended that facts are far less important than symbolism in convincing people to do what you want.

At the behest of the tobacco industry in the 1920s, Bernays mounted a well-planned media campaign to convince women that smoking was a way to express their desire for political and economic equality. He coined the term “torches of freedom” as a marketing slogan evoking images of the Statue of Liberty and arranged staged displays of female celebrates lighting up in public with media coverage. The sale of cigarettes to women increased dramatically. Bernays and his followers became indispensable to industrialists in getting the public to buy newly mass-produced products. They deliberately and systematically undermined the traditional value of thrift skillfully using the media and popular figures to convince the masses that happiness and success could be achieved through the act of buying products that they did not necessarily need. Consumption became addictive often requiring the consumer to go into debt to satisfy an increasing desire for validation.

Those in government quickly saw the potential of Bernays’ methods. He and his disciples were employed to achieve political objectives through the manipulation of public opinion. Bernays wrote extensively on the value and power of propaganda contending that those who practice it constitute an “invisible government” not subject to conventional political controls and public oversight. Public opinion specialists became an integral part of government. In the 1968 presidential election, Richard Nixon’s handlers hired marketing experts to package their candidate like a commercial product and sell him to the public. As described in The Selling of the President, 1968, by Joe McGinnis, the age of modern media marketing literally redefined politics in the U.S.

Bernays had a marked disdain for the general public, considering common people to be incapable of making rational decisions. He believed the masses had to be “guided” by the superior intellect of those who held power. As distasteful as that may sound to many, Edward Bernays basic theories and methods have been refined over time and continue to be widely employed by major corporations, political groups and government agencies to “guide” public thought and behavior. Through all forms of the media, including the Internet, their messages are so subtle and pervasive that few ever realize that they are being manipulated.

So, what do you think? Do you ever question why you desire to buy things that you really do not need and probably will throw away long before the end of their useful life? Have you ever wondered how your parents with four kids could have lived in a tiny house with one bathroom and seemed happy, while you feel cramped in a home more than twice the size with half the occupants? What do you think about climate change, gay rights, healthcare, the war, the recession or the cost of fuel? Why do you belong to a particular political party or vote for one candidate over another?

Are your thoughts and actions really your own—or possibly directed by people like Edward Bernays? Thinking is the last thing they want you to do.