"If we understand the mechanisms and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it," Bernays wrote in his book Propaganda. He also coined the term "engineering of consent" to describe his technique for controlling the masses via public relations/marketing.

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society," Bernays argued. "Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. . . . In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons . . . who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind."

In PR-land the consumers are sheep that need to be sheperded. The various marketing campaigns over the years prove this. PR documents from the past provides plenty of proof of unethical marketing, from the way American tobacco tycoons made it socially acceptable for women to smoke to the way other corporations persuaded people to pave over their landscape and switch to beer as the "beverage of moderation." The companies involved aren't likely to release their records of those campaigns, assuming they still exist. But thanks to propagandists such as Edward Bernays who saved every scrap of paper he sent out or took in folks can see just how policies were made and how, in many cases, they were founded on deception.