The Engineering of Consent  From Wikipedia, the free
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series episode, see The Century of the Self.  "The Engineering
of Consent" is an essay by Edward Bernays first published in
1947.[1] He defines "engineering consent" as the art of
manipulating people. It maintained that entire populations,
which were undisciplined or lacking in intellectual or definite
moral principles, were vulnerable to unconscious influence and
thus susceptible to want things that they do not need. This was
achieved by linking those products and ideas to their
unconscious desires. Ernest Dichter, who is widely considered to
be the "father of motivational research," referred to this as
"the secret-self of the American consumer."[citation needed]  In
other words, consumer psychologists have already made the choice
for people before they buy a certain product. This is achieved
by manipulating desires on an unconscious level.   The
"Engineering Consent" chapter of Christopher Bryso