betty crocker cake mix
Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2025 10:40 am
The egg of guilt
World War II saw the rise of instant food preparations. With people having less time to cook, the industry began to design formulas of dry ingredients that required only water to make. Instant cake mixes were the first in this field. Despite their convenience, they were not selling. Disappointed and confused by the poor sales, Betty Crocker executives turned to Edward Bernays for help .
Again, Bernays turned to psychology to solve this colombia mobile database problem. After conducting a focus group with housewives, he concluded that they felt unconscious guilt for using a product that required so little effort. The answer: give them a greater sense of involvement by requiring them to add an egg to the mix. Sales soared as the symbolic egg worked its way into the collective unconscious and removed the guilt barrier.
The legacy of Bernays
More than two decades after his death, the impact of Edward Bernays’ marketing has a great legacy in consumer culture: he understood that any object can be transformed into a symbol and that studying the cultural implications of these symbols allowed him to manipulate people on a large scale. He called this technique “consent engineering.” Despite its controversial status, it is still used by brands, companies, public figures and politicians around the world to achieve their commercial or propaganda objectives.
World War II saw the rise of instant food preparations. With people having less time to cook, the industry began to design formulas of dry ingredients that required only water to make. Instant cake mixes were the first in this field. Despite their convenience, they were not selling. Disappointed and confused by the poor sales, Betty Crocker executives turned to Edward Bernays for help .
Again, Bernays turned to psychology to solve this colombia mobile database problem. After conducting a focus group with housewives, he concluded that they felt unconscious guilt for using a product that required so little effort. The answer: give them a greater sense of involvement by requiring them to add an egg to the mix. Sales soared as the symbolic egg worked its way into the collective unconscious and removed the guilt barrier.
The legacy of Bernays
More than two decades after his death, the impact of Edward Bernays’ marketing has a great legacy in consumer culture: he understood that any object can be transformed into a symbol and that studying the cultural implications of these symbols allowed him to manipulate people on a large scale. He called this technique “consent engineering.” Despite its controversial status, it is still used by brands, companies, public figures and politicians around the world to achieve their commercial or propaganda objectives.