Bite Size Comms

Stephen Waddington posted a question on LinkedIn about a week ago: Why is “communications” preferred to “public relations” as a functional term across public, private and non-governmental sectors? There were numerous comments, including a brief one from me. It is an interesting question that warrants thoughtful consideration and discussion. A few commenters associated the term “public relations” with propaganda or “spin”.

Here is my brief history of public relations. It is from my perspective. But that is what PR is all about, innit?

A disclaimer at the start. I’m a proud European, so I don’t buy the American view that PR stems from Edward Bernays. If you are an American getting anxious, hold on. I do give Bernays some credit (kind of) soon.

Public relations stands as one of the most pervasive yet underappreciated forces shaping modern society. While many trace its origins to the early 20th century, the art of persuasive communication reaches back to ancient Athens.

Aristotle, writing his foundational work “Rhetoric” before 300 BC, established principles that remain central to public relations practice today. His systematic approach to persuasion through ethos (credibility), pathos (emotional appeal), and logos (logical reasoning) created what many consider the first comprehensive communication framework. Yeah, it’s what influencers are all about today. The philosopher’s focus on understanding audiences, crafting messages strategically, and establishing speaker credibility mirrors the core activities of contemporary PR practitioners. Indeed, Aristotle’s model of communication, encompassing speaker, audience, and message, still informs everything from political campaigns to corporate communications.

However, after Aristotle’s democratic principles, PR took a dark turn towards propaganda. One of history’s most effective pieces of propaganda masquerades as a simple embroidery. The Bayeux Tapestry, created shortly after the 1066 Norman Conquest, exemplifies a masterful blend of visual storytelling and political messaging. Commissioned by Bishop Odo, William the Conqueror’s half-brother, this 230-foot “comic strip” served a crucial political purpose: legitimising Norman rule over England. The tapestry’s sophisticated propaganda techniques included selective historical narrative, symbolic imagery, and emotional manipulation. Despite being created to justify William’s conquest, it paradoxically presents Harold in a sympathetic light, a subtle touch that enhances its credibility. The work’s propaganda value extended well beyond its creation, being deployed by both French and English interests over the centuries, and even catching the attention of Nazi leaders during World War II, who attempted to appropriate its meaning for their own purposes.

The First World War marked a watershed moment in the evolution of propaganda, as it transitioned from occasional state messaging to systematic mass persuasion. Britain’s War Propaganda Bureau, established in 1914, pioneered techniques that would define government communications for decades. The British approach proved so effective that by war’s end, Britain had gained “the doubtful distinction of having employed propaganda better and more successfully than any other nation”. The war demonstrated the power of propaganda through diverse media, including posters, pamphlets, films, and speeches, which saturated the public consciousness. In Britain alone, the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee distributed almost 12 million copies of 140 different posters by the war’s second year. These campaigns refined techniques for recruitment (“Your Country Needs You”), war loans, industrial mobilisation, and emotion channelling that would influence government communications indefinitely.

If Aristotle was the theoretical father of PR, Edward Bernays was its practical pioneer. See, I’m being nice to Bernays. Working for the Committee on Public Information during World War I, Bernays observed how propaganda could transform public opinion from opposition to war to enthusiastic support. His crucial insight: “If this can be used for war, it can be used for peace”. Post-war, Bernays revolutionised corporate communications by applying Freudian psychology to consumer behaviour. His legendary campaigns included convincing American women to smoke by framing cigarettes as feminist “Torches of Freedom” during the 1929 Easter parade. He transformed American breakfast habits by persuading 5,000 doctors to endorse bacon and eggs as healthier than light meals. When instant cake mixes weren’t selling despite their convenience, Bernays identified unconscious guilt among housewives and addressed it by requiring them to add eggs, thereby giving them greater involvement and alleviating their guilt. Stuff we now call behaviour change communications! Perhaps most significantly, Bernays rebranded the very concept of propaganda. After World War I tainted the term, he popularised “public relations” as its replacement, permanently shaping how the profession understood itself. Although the words “public relations” had appeared earlier, Edward Bernays decisively popularised the title “public relations counsel” after WWI, recasting wartime propaganda techniques as a peacetime profession. His Crystallising Public Opinion (1923) is widely regarded as the first full‑length book to define PR’s role, methods, and ethics, setting the field’s theoretical foundations. Ivy Lee (first person to write a press release, folks) and others laid important groundwork, and Britain had its own pioneers like Basil Clarke, but Bernays’ synthesis cemented PR’s identity.

Across the Channel, Britain’s early PR identity took shape through Basil Clarke, a former wartime information officer who founded Editorial Services in 1924, often described as the UK’s first public relations consultancy. Clarke’s move from government propaganda to peacetime counsel signposted a broader shift in British communications: away from ad‑hoc press agitation toward a more systematic, ethically‑minded practice that treated publics as stakeholders rather than targets. His trajectory paved the way for Sir Stephen Tallents’ institutional breakthroughs at the GPO and, ultimately, the 1948 formation of the Institute of Public Relations.

My hero, Sir Stephen Tallents, laid the professional foundations of Public Relations in Britain. This distinguished civil servant, who had served at the Ministry of Munitions during World War I, brought systematic thinking to government communications. At the Empire Marketing Board (1926-1933), Tallents pioneered integrated marketing communications, distinguishing between product advertising and organisational branding. When he moved to the General Post Office as Britain’s first Public Relations Officer in 1933, he established the country’s first PR department. His innovative strategies included employing documentary filmmaker John Grierson and commissioning artists to modernise Britain’s image. Tallents’ wartime experience at the Ministry of Information proved crucial in professionalising public relations. In 1948, he became the founder President of the Institute of Public Relations, cementing PR’s status as a legitimate profession rather than merely a welfare officer’s duty. If you are interested in understanding more about Sir Stephen, please listen to my “An Englishman in Latvia” podcast “On Sir Stephen Tallents”. Yes, he did great things in Latvia, too!

Margaret Thatcher’s privatisation programme represented public relations’ most ambitious governmental application. The sale of state assets worth over £60 billion required unprecedented promotional campaigns to convince the British public to embrace private ownership of public utilities. Anyone on LinkedIn my age remember those TV campaigns? The privatisation of British Telecom in 1984 exemplified this approach. The government authorised “the largest marketing campaign ever for the sale of a new share issue”. PR consultancies like Dewe Rogerson didn’t merely promote share sales; they directed entire marketing strategies, coordinating advertising, design, and market research. The BT campaign was revolutionary in scale and experimental in marketing approach. These campaigns were highly successful in changing public attitudes. Share ownership in Britain increased from 3 million to 15 million during Thatcher’s tenure. More importantly, privatisation moved “from the far right to the centre ground of politics,” transforming Britain’s economic consensus. The PR industry both enabled privatisation and was transformed by it, developing new expertise in financial communications and privatisation work globally.

The Institute of Public Relations, founded in 1948 with Sir Stephen Tallents as its first President, reflected the evolution of PR from wartime propaganda to a peacetime profession. From its Fleet Street origins, the Institute established professional practices, ethical codes, and educational standards that legitimised public relations as a distinct discipline. The transition from the wartime Ministry of Information to the peacetime Central Office of Information in 1946 marked a crucial moment. The government recognised that systematic information management was essential in democratic societies, even outside wartime exigencies. This institutional framework provided the foundation for modern government communications. Oh, there is a well-told story that the Institute was founded because the UK population didn’t understand what local government did. Has anything changed…..

Today’s PR practitioners operate in an environment fundamentally shaped by these historical developments. Aristotle’s rhetorical principles inform digital communications strategies. The visual storytelling techniques pioneered in the Bayeux Tapestry find expression in social media campaigns. Bernays’ psychological insights underpin modern consumer marketing. Tallents’ integrated approach influences corporate communications. And Thatcher’s privatisation campaigns demonstrated PR’s power to reshape economic systems.

The profession’s journey from ancient Athens to modern Britain reveals public relations as more than corporate spin or government messaging. It represents humanity’s evolving understanding of how ideas spread, opinions form, and societies change. Whether defending Norman conquests or selling British Gas shares, effective communicators have always understood that success requires more than merely transmitting information. It requires a sophisticated understanding of human psychology, cultural context, and strategic narrative development.

For today’s practitioners, this history offers both inspiration and warning. The techniques pioneered by Aristotle, refined by medieval propagandists, systematised during wartime, commercialised by Bernays, professionalised by Tallents, and deployed by Thatcher, remain powerful tools. Their ethical application continues to challenge a profession whose influence on democratic discourse grows ever more profound.

Thank you for reading this far. Please share your own, possibly also biased, views on the origins of public relations and where it is headed, in the comments section.

[Image of Bayeux Tapestry by author]