Hitler’s Nazi Germany Used an American PR Agency

As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, I was shocked this week to learn via a recent book, Larry Roth’s The Nazi Account, that in 1933 Hitler hired a major NYC PR firm, Carl Byoir & Associates, to portray Nazi Germany in a positive light to an American audience. While the book is fiction, it’s based upon true facts. The Nation exposed Nazi propaganda in America, and revealed that the agency was paid $6,000 per month to favorably influence media and public perception of Nazi Germany. The book details—and independent research confirms—that Byoir’s employees were paid significant fees to spin for German tourism, railroads and were confident they would succeed.

Edward Bernays, considered the father of Public Relations (and Sigmund Freud’s nephew), turned down work for Germany, as he was concerned about how his work would be used – particularly by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels. While Byoir resigned the work after a year-plus of being paid, WPP, one of the world’s largest advertising & pr conglomerates, describes the firm they acquired years ago as “one of the oldest and most honored public relations agencies in the business.” WPP, which owns Grey, JWT, Ogilvy and others, should remove the word “honored” from Byoir’s description, as any work for Nazi Germany is beyond the pale.

http://www.constantinereport.com/hitlers-nazi-germany-used-american-pr-agency/

http://observer.com/2014/12/hitlers-nazi-germany-used-an-american-pr-agency/#ixzz3N7DNVfPO