How the “bacon and scrambled eggs” breakfast was imposed on ..
Added 2024-01-18 09:32:33 +0000 UTCHow the “bacon and scrambled eggs” breakfast was imposed on the USA at the beginning of the 20th century.
There was such a famous PR man - Edward Bernays (1891-1995), he became famous for many actions, and one of them was the formation of food preferences of the American people by order of a bacon manufacturer.
The order came in the 1920s. Americans used to have a “light” breakfast: coffee, a muffin and orange juice, but bacon sales needed to be boosted.
Bernays used the power of propaganda. First, a cunning PR man tricked one doctor into writing for free to 5,000 colleagues with the question: what is healthier in the morning, a “light” breakfast or a “hearty” one? 4,500 doctors answered “full”, since the body needs energy in the morning.
This was the first trick. Firstly, the word “hearty” was used as an antonym to the word “light”, which is not entirely true. Secondly, nothing is known about the ease of a “light” breakfast, and in context it is perceived as “insufficient.” Obviously, doctors cannot support a lack of calories in the morning.
After that, he ordered articles in newspapers, something like: “4,500 doctors consider a light breakfast harmful, but a hearty one healthy.” Along with the “opinion” of doctors, such articles casually mentioned that such a breakfast could be bacon and eggs.
Bernays described many propaganda techniques in his book back in 1928. The first chapter of the hundred-year-old book begins with words about the manipulation of habits and tastes that are still relevant today:
When the bacon “PR campaign” began, there wasn’t even a sound movie yet. We will not consider all the propaganda tricks used at that time; we will turn only to cinema and animation. Apparently, over time, propaganda began to be added there too.
