Who Really Was The Public Relations Pioneer

For anyone who knows even basic information about public relations (or even advertising

, promotion or audience manipulation), it is generally cited that Edward Louis Bernays is the founding father of PR. Without doubt the most popular person to be related to PR, if more time is taken to look into the pioneering of public relations, it is apparent that there are various other players who need to be mentioned, all of which could be considered to the pioneer of public relations.

A prime example is Ivy Lee, who alongside Bernays, set up the very first public relations company in 1919. Working on the same processes and procedures as Bernays, Lee is seen by some to be the true pioneer for public relations due the amount of high brow and well documented PR work that he actually carried out.

Take his work with the Rockefeller family as an example. Hired in 1914 by John D. Rockefeller Jr, he was asked to promote the Standard Oil company, linking and establishing the family name with the company along the way. So impressed with the work that Lee did on this project, he was hired to carry out similar work on all of the family interests and is known to have a very solid link with the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York.

Compare this to Bernays who, whilst he undoubtedly had his own extensive amount of projects that he worked endlessly on, is known more for his thoughts and writings. Extremely important in their own right, for those who believe hands on experience is of the most importance, Ivy Lee is award the title of the founding father of public relations.

In addition to Ivy Lee, Carl Byoir is another name that is occasionally linked with being the pioneer of public relations, although the name is not particularly known outside of PR or business history circles.

Throughout Byoirs 71 year life, he carried out a vast amount of popular and well devised PR campaigns, such as helping to increase a better public view of the United States army during the First World War, when he was a member of the Committee of Public Information alongside Edward Louis Bernays. Whilst involved in a range of campaigns here, he is most popular for helping to promote signing up to the army for those Americans who did not speaking English, something which aided tremendously towards the 70,000 new recruits that was the result of the Committee of Public Information.

The primary reason why Byoir is not regularly seen as a pioneer of PR is that he did not create or develop a considerable amount of new ideas. Instead (which is the reason why people argue he should be considered a leading figure) he promoted public relations and took it to the masses, showing that the work was beneficial and could be carried out to help any company.

Edward Louis Bernays is and probably always will be seen as the pioneer of public relations. There is no questioning that his knowledge of the field was immense, but it is questionable whether the title he is given is due to his superior knowledge over the other supposed founding members, or purely for the fact that he lived the longest and could therefore research and comment more on public relations. From the diversity of charity PR to the traditionalism of the guiding principles that are still implemented, Bernays saw public relations progress to something that is widely accepted and carried out regularly to this day.

by: Christopher Reinhold

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