In his own words, Bernays describes engineering consent as "use of an engineering approach—that is, action based only on thorough knowledge of the situation and on the application of scientific principles and tried practices to the task of getting people to support ideas and programs." [1]

Bernays explained, "Professionally, [public relations] activities are planned and executed by trained practitioners in accordance with scientific principles, based on the findings of social scientists. Their dispassionate approach and methods may be likened to those of the engineering professions which stem from the physical sciences."[2]

The threat of engineered consent in democracy has been expressed in a textbook on American government:[3]

Under modern conditions of political advertising and manipulation, it has become possible to talk of the engineering of consent by an elite of experts and professional politicians. Consent that is thus engineered is difficult to distinguish in any fundamental way from the consent that supports modern totalitarian governments. Were the manipulated voter to become the normal voter, the government he supports could hardly be said to rest on his consent in any traditional sense of that word.

To some observers, consumer psychologists have already made the choice for people before they buy a certain product. Marketing is often based on themes and symbols that unconsciously influence consumer behavior.

Essay

The essay first appeared in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.[4] The author's observations in the essay include the following:

The United States has become a small room where a single whisper is magnified thousands of times.

There are two divisions in media: commercial and organized group information systems.

Today’s leaders have become more remote physically from the public, yet, at the same time, the public has much greater familiarity with these leaders through the system of modern communications…Increased influence of mass media is due to widespread and enormously rapid diffusion of literacy.

With the aid of technicians in the field who have specialized in utilizing the channels of communications, [some leaders] have been able to achieve purposefully and scientifically what we have termed "the engineering of consent".

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The freedoms of press, speech, petition and assembly, the freedoms which make the engineering of consent possible, are among the most cherished guarantees in the Constitution of the United States.

Under no circumstances should the engineering of consent supersede or displace the educational system, either formal or informal, in bringing about understanding by the people as the basis for their actions. The engineering of consent often does supplement the educational process.

The chief function [of the profession] is to analyze objectively and realistically the position of its client vis-a-vis a public, and to advise as to the necessary corrections in its client’s attitudes towards and approaches to that public.

It must be remembered of course that good will, the basis of lasting adjustment, can be preserved in the long run, only by those whose actions warrant it…The public relations counsel has the professional responsibility to push only those ideas that he can respect, and not to promote causes or accept assignments for clients he considers anti-social.

As in physical engineering, a feasibility study must be done and a budget drawn up.

The engineer of consent must be powerfully equipped with facts, with truths, with evidence before he shows himself before a public.

Bernays recommends World Almanac with lists of thousands of associations across the United States – a cross-section of the country.

The public’s attitudes, ideas, presumptions or prejudices result from definite influences. One must try to find out what they are in any situation in which one is working.

Democratic society is actually only a loose aggregate of constituent groups…To influence the public, the engineer of consent works with and through group leaders and opinion moulders on every level.

Research furnishes the equivalent of the mariner's chart, the architect's blue print,the traveler's road map.

Themes must appeal to the motives of the public. Motives are the activation of both conscious and subconscious pressure created by the force of desires

Organization also correlates the activities of any specialists who may be called upon from time to time, such as opinion researchers, fund raisers, publicity men, radio and motion picture experts, specialists for women's clubs or foreign language groups, and the like.

Set in motion a broad activity, the success of which depends on interlocking all phases and elements of the proposed strategy, implemented by tactics that are timed to the moment of maximum effectiveness.

The developing of events and circumstances that are not routine is one of the basic functions of the engineer of consent.

The Engineering of Consent also applies to the pioneered application of Freudian psychoanalytic concepts and techniques to business—in particular to the study of consumer behavior in the marketplace. Ideas established strongly influenced the practices of the advertising industry in the twentieth century.

The techniques applied developing the "consumer lifestyle" were also later applied to developing theories in cultural commodification; which has proven successful in the later 20th century (with diffusion of cultures throughout North America) to sell ethnic foods and style in popular mainstream culture by removing them from geography and ethnic histories and sanitizing them for a general public.

Ernest Dichter applied what he dubbed "the strategy of desire" for building a "stable society," by creating for the public a common identity through the products they consumed; again, much like with cultural commodification, where culture has no "identity," "meaning," or "history" inherited from previous generations, but rather, is created by the attitudes which are introduced by consumer behaviors and social patterns of the period. According to Dichter, "To understand a stable citizen, you have to know that modern man quite often tries to work off his frustrations by spending on self-sought gratification. Modern man is internally ready to fulfill his self-image, by purchasing products which compliment it."

In a practical example of Edward Bernays’ theory detailed in his essay, George Washington Hill, president of the American Tobacco Company, hired Edward Bernays in 1928 to lead a campaign to entice more women to smoke in public.[7] The campaign is believed to have helped converting attitudes towards women's smoking from a social taboo to a more socially acceptable act.[7] Bernays did this by associating women’s smoking with the ideas of "power" and "freedom" which he did by using the slogan Torches of Freedom during a famous parade in New York City.

The idea of “Engineering of Consent” was motivated by Freud’s idea that humans are irrational beings, and are motivated primarily by inner desires hidden in their unconscious. If one understood what those unconscious desires were, then one could use this to one’s advantage to sell products and increase sales.[8]

Conspicuous consumption is a term used to describe and explain the consumer practice of purchasing or using goods of a higher quality or in greater quantity than might be considered necessary in practical terms.[1] More specifically, it refers to the spending of money on or the acquiring of luxury goods and services in order to publically (i.e., conspicuously) display the economic power of one's income or accumulated wealth. To the conspicuous consumer, such a public display of discretionary economic power is a means of either attaining or maintaining a given social status.[2][3]

The term was coined by Thorstein Veblen. The development of Veblen's sociology of conspicuous consumption has since produced the terms invidious consumption, the ostentatious consumption of goods to provoke the envy of other people; and conspicuous compassion, the deliberate use of charitable donations of money to enhance the social prestige of the donor with a display of superior socio-economic status.[4]

The concept of consumerism stems from conspicuous consumption.[5]

The term conspicuous consumption denotes the act of buying many things, especially expensive things, that are not necessary to one's life, done in a way that makes people notice the buyer's having bought the merchandise.[22] Scholar Andrew Trigg (2001) defined conspicuous consumption as the behaviours whereby a man or a woman can display great wealth, by means of idleness—expending much time in the practice of leisure activities, and spending much money to consume luxury goods and services.[23]

Conspicuous compassion, the practice of publicly donating large sums of money to charity to enhance the social prestige of the donor, is sometimes described as a type of conspicuous consumption.[4] This behaviour has long been recognised and sometimes attacked—for example, the New Testament story Lesson of the widow's mite criticises wealthy people who make large donations ostentatiously while praising poorer people who make small but comparatively more difficult donations in private.[24]

Conspicuous consumption can take form for various reasons, including:

Demonstration/bandwagon effect — In the book Income, Saving and the Theory of Consumer Behavior (1949), James Duesenberry proposed that a person's conspicuous consumption psychologically depends not only upon the actual level of spending, but also depends upon the degree of his or her spending, as compared with and to the spending of other people. That the conspicuous consumer is motivated by the importance, to him or to her, of the opinion of the social and economic reference groups for whom are performed the patterns of conspicuous consumption.[10][11]

Aggressive ostentation — In a 2006 CBSNews.com article, Dick Meyer said that conspicuous consumption is a form of anger towards society, an "aggressive ostentation" that is an antisocial behaviour, which arose from the social alienation suffered by men, women, and families who feel they have become anonymous in and to their societies. This feeling of alienation is aggravated by the decay of the communitarian ethic essential to a person feeling him or herself part of the whole society.[8]

Shelter and transport — In the United States, the trend towards building houses that were larger-than-needed, by a nuclear family, began in the 1950s. Decades later, in the year 2000, that practice of conspicuous consumption resulted in people buying houses that were double the average size needed to comfortably house a nuclear family.[25] The negative consequences of either buying or building an oversized house was either the loss of or the reduction of the family's domestic recreational space—the backyard and the front yard; the spending of old-age retirement funds to pay for a too-big house; and over-long commuting time, from house to job, and vice versa, because the required plot of land was unavailable near a city. Oversized houses facilitated other forms of conspicuous consumption, such as an oversized garage for the family's oversized motor vehicles or buying more clothing to fill larger clothes closets. Conspicuous consumption becomes a self-generating cycle of spending money for the sake of social prestige. Analogous to the consumer trend for oversized houses is the trend towards buying oversized light-trucks, specifically the off-road sport-utility-vehicle type (cf. station wagon/estate car), as a form of psychologically comforting conspicuous consumption, because such big motor-vehicles usually are bought by people who reside in a city, an urban nuclear family.[25]

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Prestige – In a 1999 article, Jacqueline Eastman, Ronald Goldsmith, and Leisa Reinecke Flynn said that status consumption is based upon conspicuous consumption; however, the literature of contemporary marketing does not establish definitive meanings for the terms status consumption and conspicuous consumption.[26][27] Moreover, A. O'Cass and H. Frost (2002) claim that sociologists often incorrectly used the two terms as interchangeable and equivalent terms. In a later study, O'Cass and Frost determined that, as sociological constructs, the terms status consumption and conspicuous consumption denote different sociological behaviours.[28] About the ambiguities of denotation and connotation of the term conspicuous consumption, R. Mason (1984) reported that the classical, general theories of consumer decision-processes do not readily accommodate the construct of "conspicuous consumption," because the nature of said socio-economic behaviours varies according to the social class and the economic group studied.[29]

Motivations — Paurav Shukla (2010) says that, whilst marketing and sales researchers recognise the importance of the buyer's social and psychological environment—the definition of the term status-directed consumption remains ambiguous, because, to develop a comprehensive general theory requires that social scientists accept two fundamental assumptions, which usually do not concord. First, though the "rational" (economic) and the "irrational" (psychologic) elements of consumer decision-making often influence a person's decision to buy particular goods and services, marketing and sales researchers usually consider the rational element dominant in a person's decision to buy the particular goods and services. Second, the consumer perceives the utility of the product (the goods, the services) as a prime consideration in evaluating its usefulness, i.e. the reason to buy the product.[30] These assumptions, required for the development of a general theory of brand selection and brand purchase, are problematic, because the resultant theories tend either to misunderstand or to ignore the "irrational" element in the behaviour of the buyer-as-consumer; and because conspicuous consumption is a behaviour predominantly "psychological" in motivation and expression, Therefore, a comprehensive, general theory of conspicuous consumption would require a separate construct for the psychological (irrational) elements of the socio-economic phenomenon that is conspicuous consumption.

Celebrity branding or celebrity endorsement is a form of advertising campaign or marketing strategy which uses a celebrity's fame or social status to promote a product, brand or service, or to raise awareness about an issue.[1] Marketers use celebrity endorsers in hopes that the positive image of the celebrity endorser will be passed on to the product's or brand's image.[2] Celebrity endorsement i.[1] Non-profit organizations also use celebrities since a celebrity's frequent mass media coverage reaches a wider audience, thus making celebrities an effective ingredient in fundraising.[3]

Brand recognition is a huge part of celebrity branding. Brand recognition is where the general public is able to establish a brand from its attributes. It is most successful when a brand is exposed without a company name and is then recognized by the customer through the visual signifiers such as logos, slogans, and colors. An Example of this is Coke whereby their signature color is red and consumers acknowledge that. Brand Recognition is extremely effective in promotional campaigns. To measure brand recognition and the effectiveness it has on promotional campaigns, companies will conduct experiments on study groups for results. If brands are equal in quality similar products brand recognition will always have an advantage of higher sales.[10]

This quote explains that there are two types of celebrity endorsement: explicit and implicit.

An example of explicit endorsement can be seen through Beyoncé's sponsorship deal with PepsiCo. In 2012 Beyoncé and PepsiCo sat down and penned a partnership deal that is estimated to be worth approx. $50 million,[11] that embraces the standard Pepsi print and TV commercials that Beyoncé will appear in, as well as a more unorthodox 'creative fund' for any future projects Beyoncé chooses to take on.[12] This is an effective explicit endorsement because not only does Beyoncé have incredible reach, being one of the world's biggest female popstars, but also the term 'partnership' feels more genuine for consumers which may make them more likely to believe that Beyoncé is endorsing the Pepsi product because she believes in the product and the company behind it, rather than some celebrity endorsements which feel forced, or where consumers see through the endorsement and assume it is just a business decision on behalf of the celebrity to make some extra cash.

An example of implicit endorsement can be explained by noticing the growing number of Beats by Dre portable speakers that have been appearing in pop and hip-hop music videos, (such music videos include Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj and Britney Spears).[13] The celebrities involved are not expressly mentioning the Beats product within their music videos, but their presence amongst these celebrities convey the message of it being a high-quality product associated with those of a high social class, particularly those who are industry leaders in music

The exaction of an exorbitantly high price or fee. For example, You paid ten dollars for that meat? That's highway robbery. This term, used figuratively since the late 1800s, alludes to literal robbery of travelers on or near a public road.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/in-kerala-highway-robbery-rising-loot-a-poll-twist-7330321/

Within a capitalist economic system, commodification is the transformation of goods, services, ideas, nature, personal information or people[1][2][3] into commodities or objects of trade. A commodity at its most basic, according to Arjun Appadurai, is "anything intended for exchange," or any object of economic value.[4]

Commodification is often criticised on the grounds that some things ought not to be treated as commodities—for example water, education, data, information, knowledge, human life, and animal life.[5][6] Human commodity is a term used in case of human organ trade, paid surrogacy also known as commodification of the womb, and human trafficking.[1][2][7] Slave trade as a form of human trafficking is a form of the commodification of people. According to Gøsta Esping-Andersen people are commodified or 'turned into objects' when selling their labour on the market to an employer.[8]

Celebrity branding or celebrity endorsement is a form of advertising campaign or marketing strategy which uses a celebrity's fame or social status to promote a product, brand or service, or to raise awareness about an issue.[1] Marketers use celebrity endorsers in hopes that the positive image of the celebrity endorser will be passed on to the product's or brand's image.[2] Celebrity endorsement i.[1] Non-profit organizations also use celebrities since a celebrity's frequent mass media coverage reaches a wider audience, thus making celebrities an effective ingredient in fundraising.[3]

https://wwd.com/business-news/retail/dany-garcia-launches-gstq-a-womens-lifestyle-collection-1234810623/

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/dany-garcia-daughter-immigrants-made-165042276.html

Demography (from prefix demo- from Ancient Greek δῆμος (dēmos) meaning 'the people', and -graphy from γράφω (graphō) meaning 'writing, description or measurement'[1]) is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings.

Demographic analysis can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as education, nationality, religion, and ethnicity. Educational institutions[2] usually treat demography as a field of sociology, though there are a number of independent demography departments.[3]

Patient demographics form the core of the data for any medical institution,such as patient and emergency contact information and patient medical record data. They allow for the identification of a patient and his categorization into categories for the purpose of statistical analysis. Patient demographics include: Date of birth, gender(Ref: Google Health),Date of death, postal code, ethnicity, blood type (Ref: Microsoft HealthVault: Personal Demographic Information, Basic Demographic Information), Emergency contact information, family doctor, insurance provider data, Allergies, major diagnoses and major medical history.[4]

Formal demography limits its object of study to the measurement of population processes, while the broader field of social demography or population studies also analyses the relationships between economic, social, cultural, and biological processes influencing a population.[5]

A persona (plural personae or personas), depending on the context, can refer to either the public image of one's personality, or the social role that one adopts, or a fictional character.[1] The word derives from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask.[2] On the social web, users develop virtual personas as online identities. In fan fiction and in online stories, the personas may especially reflect the authors' self-insertion.

https://www.le-vpn.com/online-persona/

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Under Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a receiving state may "at any time and without having to explain its decision" declare any member of a diplomatic staff persona non grata.[1] A person so declared is considered unacceptable and is usually recalled to his or her home nation. If not recalled, the receiving state "may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the mission".[2]

A person can be declared a persona non grata before that person even enters the country.[1]

With the protection of mission staff from prosecution for violating civil and criminal laws, depending on rank, under Articles 41 and 42 of the Vienna Convention, they are bound to respect national laws and regulations. Breaches of these articles can lead to a persona non grata declaration being used to punish erring staff. It is also used to expel diplomats suspected of espionage, described as "activities incompatible with diplomatic status",[3][4] or any overt criminal act such as drug trafficking. The declaration may also be a symbolic indication of displeasure.[5]

So-called "tit for tat" exchanges have occurred (whereby countries involved in a dispute each expel the ambassador of the other country), notably during the Cold War. A notable occurrence outside of the Cold War was an exchange between the United States and Ecuador in 2011: the Ecuadorian government expelled the United States ambassador, as a result of diplomatic cables leaking (WikiLeaks); the United States responded by expelling the Ecuadorian ambassador.[6]

https://www.ranker.com/list/best-love-triangle-moments-in-anime/anna-lindwasser

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/LoveTriangle/VideoGames

Mass Effect:

The first game has either human love interest, Liara, and Shepard, assuming Shepard led both of the others on enough.

The second game introduces some potentially complicated ones, as Shepard can have expressed an attraction to as many as five characters (either gender) over the course of the story.

The third game can potentially feature one straight-up if Shepard pursued a romance in both the first and second game, given that the developers explicitly described the ensuing situation as a "Love Triangle." Given the possibility of NEW romance options in the third game, this could quickly get out of hand.

Final Fantasy VII has Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa, arguably the most famous and hotly debated love triangle in video game history. Even twenty years since the game's release, there are some people who still argue about it in forgotten corners of the internet (the sequels and spinoffs largely resolved it by making Aerith and Zack an Official Couple Together in Death, and the fandom by and large resolved it by declaring Cloud/Tifa/Aerith the One True Threesome).

The situation repeats in Final Fantasy VII Remake, albeit with new developments that both calm down and intensify the arguments around it.