How to start a fashion trend

In 1929, Edward Bernays broke the taboo against women smoking cigarettes, doubling the customer base for tobacco companies in America.

He did it by making women’s smoking fashionable.

Here’s how he did it, in 5 minutes (I highly recommend watching the entire clip) —

(Yes, he says cigarettes give women a symbolic penis but don’t worry about that for now.)

The clip is from my favorite documentary, Century of the Self, which tells the story of the invention and evolution of modern propaganda over the last 100 years. (You can watch the entire thing for free, here.)

This is a great illustration to how beliefs are sold to the public today.

I’ll explain more in the coming days.