The Journey of Public Relations: From Ancient Civilizations to Modern Practices

Public Relations (PR) might feel like a modern invention – something born alongside social media managers, press conferences, and corporate apologies. But the truth is, the practice of managing public perception is thousands of years old. From ancient rulers who built monuments to project power, to press agents who smuggled lions into hotel rooms for publicity, the story of PR is a rich and surprising journey through human communication. Let’s trace how it evolved from ancient civilizations to the structured profession we know today.

Ancient roots of public opinion management 🔗

Long before the term “public relations” existed, leaders across ancient civilizations understood a critical truth: controlling the narrative means controlling power. In Babylonia, Egypt, and Persia, rulers built pyramids, obelisks, and statues not just as architectural feats but as tools to promote their divine right to rule. A clay tablet discovered in ancient Iraq, which promoted improved farming methods, is sometimes considered the earliest known example of public relations .

In ancient Egypt, pharaohs employed scribes to document their accomplishments on temple walls and in tombs. These monumental inscriptions served to glorify their reigns and influence public opinion . The Rosetta Stone, which helped modern scholars decode hieroglyphics, was essentially a publicity document celebrating a pharaoh’s achievements.

Greece and the concept of “public will” 🔗

Ancient Greece introduced something even more sophisticated – the idea that public opinion itself mattered. Greek citizens were encouraged to form and express their own opinions, and leaders began conducting interviews that represented some of the earliest public opinion surveys. The Greeks had professional persuaders called sophists – hired advocates who used rhetoric and argumentation to shape public thinking. Philosophers like Aristotle, Plato, and Isocrates analysed and taught the principles of persuasive communication, laying the intellectual groundwork for what would eventually become PR theory.

Rome and “the voice of the people” 🔗

The Roman Empire took public opinion management further. Roman leaders made extensive use of public relations methods to communicate with the general population, and some of the great works of Roman history were essentially reflections of public opinion during the period. Julius Caesar’s Commentarii were carefully crafted accounts of his military victories, designed to build his personal brand and advance his political ambitions. He also organised spectacular parades after each military triumph to reinforce his image as a strong leader. The Romans understood that written records, oratory, and staged events could direct citizens toward a particular way of thinking – early PR methods that have endured through the centuries.

Ancient India’s contribution 🔗

India’s contribution to early PR is often overlooked but remarkably significant. Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty (3rd century BCE) carried out one of the most comprehensive communication campaigns in history by having his policies and moral philosophy carved into massive stone pillars placed at strategic locations across his empire. Kautilya’s Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft, outlined systematic methods of spreading and managing information within a kingdom . These ancient Indian practices demonstrate that strategic reputation management was a well-developed art long before the modern era.

Early American publicists and the age of press agentry 🔗

Fast forward to 18th and 19th century America, and PR took on a distinctly different flavour. During the American Revolution, figures like Sam Adams – often called the father of press agentry – used staged events, writings, and organised gatherings to garner attention and win support for American independence. The Boston Tea Party of 1773 remains one of the most famous PR stunts in history – a carefully orchestrated symbolic protest designed to capture public attention and rally support against British taxation.

By the mid-1800s, P.T. Barnum had taken press agentry to an entirely new level. Barnum, the legendary showman behind circuses and theatrical spectacles, mastered the art of one-way promotional communication. His approach was simple: generate maximum publicity through sensational stories, exaggerated claims, and outright hoaxes. Accuracy wasn’t a priority; attention was. Barnum’s era established a model of PR that focused purely on hype – getting people talking, regardless of whether the information was entirely truthful.

Harry Reichenbach: the king of publicity stunts 🔗

Harry Reichenbach (1882-1931) was an American press agent who took Barnum’s sensational approach and applied it specifically to the entertainment industry. He was one of the founding members of the Associated Motion Picture Advertisers and became famous for his wildly creative – sometimes outrageous – publicity stunts to promote films.

His most legendary stunt involved promoting a Tarzan sequel. He checked into New York’s Hotel Belleclaire under the fake name “T. R. Zann,” ordered a large crate supposedly containing a piano, and had fifteen pounds of raw meat delivered to his room. When hotel staff investigated, they found a full-grown lion in the suite. The resulting police arrival and media frenzy gave the Tarzan film massive front-page coverage. He also helped actor Rudolph Valentino revive his sinking career by making him grow a beard and then getting the Master Barbers Association to publicly oppose it , which generated enormous publicity.

In another stunt, Reichenbach turned 2,000 unsold copies of a painting called September Morn into a sensation. He placed the artwork – featuring a nude figure – in a shop window and then tipped off the head of New York’s Anti-Vice Society. The resulting controversy landed the painting in newspapers across the country, and copies that had been priced at ten cents each sold out rapidly at a dollar apiece.

Reichenbach’s methods were bold, deceptive, and often legally questionable. But they demonstrated the raw power of manufactured controversy – a principle that still echoes in modern PR and marketing.

The birth of modern PR: Ivy Lee and the power of truth 🔗

If Barnum and Reichenbach represented PR’s wild, anything-goes phase, Ivy Ledbetter Lee (1877-1934) represented the profession’s turn toward ethics and transparency. A former journalist who had worked at the New York Times and the New York World , Lee believed that the common corporate attitude of ignoring or dismissing the public was a failing strategy.

In 1906, while representing coal companies during a labour strike, Lee issued his famous “Declaration of Principles” – a statement sent to newspaper editors that is widely regarded as a founding document of modern PR. In it, he articulated the concept that public relations practitioners have a responsibility to the public that goes beyond their obligations to clients. He promised to provide accurate, open information rather than operating as a secret publicity machine.

The Rockefeller crisis 🔗

Lee’s biggest test came in 1914 when he was hired by John D. Rockefeller Jr. to repair the family’s reputation after the Ludlow Massacre – a violent repression of striking coal miners and their families in Colorado. Lee advised Rockefeller to personally visit Colorado, meet the miners and their families, inspect their living conditions, attend social gatherings, and listen to their grievances. This approach of humanising the corporate figure through direct engagement with affected communities was groundbreaking. It also attracted sharp criticism – the labour press accused Lee of distorting facts and called him a “paid liar.”

Despite the controversy, Lee’s core principles – transparency, accuracy, and proactive communication – established the ethical framework that distinguishes professional PR from mere propaganda. He also pioneered internal company magazines for employee morale, stockholder reports, and news releases to the media , tools that remain central to corporate communication today.

Edward Bernays: the “father of public relations” 🔗

While Ivy Lee built PR on a foundation of honesty, Edward Bernays (1891-1995) transformed it into a science. A nephew of Sigmund Freud on both sides of his family , Bernays was uniquely positioned to bring psychological insights into the world of public persuasion. He viewed PR as an “applied social science” that could use principles from psychology and sociology to systematically influence public behaviour.

In 1923, Bernays published Crystallizing Public Opinion, which is considered one of the first major efforts to define and theorise the field of public relations . His 1928 book Propaganda further outlined his belief that managing mass opinion was not only possible but necessary in a democratic society.

The “Torches of Freedom” campaign 🔗

Bernays’s most famous – and most controversial – campaign came in 1929. Hired by the American Tobacco Company to expand the female market for cigarettes, he needed to break the social taboo against women smoking in public. He consulted psychoanalyst A.A. Brill, who suggested that cigarettes represented symbols of emancipation for women.

Armed with this insight, Bernays had his secretary, Bertha Hunt, pose as a women’s rights advocate and recruit young women to light cigarettes while marching in New York’s 1929 Easter Sunday Parade. The event was carefully staged to appear as a spontaneous feminist statement. Professional photographers were tipped off in advance. Newspapers across the United States reported on the women and their so-called “torches of freedom,” and neither Bernays nor the American Tobacco Company were mentioned in any of the press reports.

This campaign became a landmark case study in PR history. It demonstrated two key Bernays innovations: using psychological research to craft messaging, and staging pseudo-events that media would cover as genuine news. While later scrutiny by scholars like Vanessa Murphree has questioned whether the campaign’s actual impact was as large as Bernays claimed, its influence on PR methodology is undeniable.

World War I: PR becomes a weapon of the state 🔗

The outbreak of World War I in 1914 marked a turning point for PR. Propaganda was used by both sides to rally domestic support and vilify enemies , and governments recognised that managing public opinion was as essential to the war effort as managing armies.

In the United States, President Woodrow Wilson – who had campaigned on keeping America out of the war – established the Committee on Public Information (CPI) in April 1917 through Executive Order 2594 to mobilise public opinion behind the war effort using every available form of mass communication. The agency, headed by journalist George Creel, became the first large-scale propaganda agency of the U.S. government.

The Committee on Public Information 🔗

The CPI’s methods were innovative and far-reaching. It used newsprint, posters, radio, telegraph, and motion pictures to deliver its messages, and recruited approximately 75,000 “Four Minute Men” – volunteers who delivered short pro-war speeches at public gatherings. By the end of the war, these volunteers had reportedly delivered over 750,000 speeches reaching hundreds of millions of people.

The CPI’s division of pictorial publicity created some of the war’s most iconic images, and Hollywood was also recruited to produce films and documentaries supporting the war effort. The agency operated offices across Europe and Latin America, running an international news service that ensured American messages reached audiences worldwide.

Crucially, Edward Bernays himself worked for the CPI, gaining experience in wartime propaganda that he would later apply to commercial public relations . The war demonstrated on a massive scale how communication strategies could shape public behaviour – a lesson that would profoundly influence the post-war development of the PR profession.

World War II and the professionalisation of PR 🔗

When World War II began, governments were even more prepared to use sophisticated communication strategies. The United States created the Office of War Information (OWI) in 1942, which viewed the CPI’s approach from WWI as an example of mistakes to avoid . The OWI took a more measured approach to wartime communication, though it still served the fundamental PR function of building public support for the war.

During World War II, Bernays advised the Office of War Information as well as the Army and Navy, and served as chairman of the National Advisory Committee of the Third U.S. War Loan. Businesses and governments alike employed PR professionals to maintain morale, promote rationing, sell war bonds, and manage the flow of information to the public.

The post-war period saw PR fully emerge as a recognised professional discipline. The second half of the twentieth century became the professional development era, with the establishment of trade associations, PR news magazines, international PR agencies, and academic principles for the profession. PR firms multiplied, corporate PR departments became standard, and the field expanded globally as American companies with PR departments spread the practice to Europe after 1948 through subsidiaries created as a result of the Marshall Plan.

Key models that define PR’s evolution 🔗

Looking at this history, scholars have identified distinct models that capture how PR has evolved:

Press agentry model (Barnum/Reichenbach era): One-way communication focused entirely on generating attention. Truth was secondary to publicity. The goal was hype, and the audience was merely a target to be reached.

Public information model (Ivy Lee era): Still one-way communication, but with a crucial difference – accuracy and truth became priorities. The goal shifted from hype to informing the public honestly.

Two-way asymmetrical model (Bernays era): Communication became a two-way process, but still aimed primarily at persuading the public. Research and psychology were used to craft more effective messaging, but the power dynamic remained tilted toward the organisation.

Two-way symmetrical model (modern best practices): This approach emphasises mutual understanding, dialogue, negotiation, and compromise to build long-term relationships between organisations and their publics. It is widely considered the most ethical and effective approach to PR today.

From stone tablets to digital screens 🔗

The journey of PR – from pharaohs carving achievements in stone, to Greek sophists arguing in public assemblies, to Reichenbach smuggling lions into hotels, to Bernays orchestrating feminist marches to sell cigarettes – is ultimately a story about the human need to communicate, persuade, and build relationships at scale. The tools have changed dramatically. The principles have not.

Today, the field continues to evolve with social media, artificial intelligence, and real-time global communication. But every viral campaign, every corporate apology, and every carefully managed crisis can trace its DNA back to these historical foundations – to a time when ancient rulers first realised that controlling the story meant controlling everything.

What do you think? When you look at Bernays’s “Torches of Freedom” campaign or Reichenbach’s outrageous publicity stunts, where do you draw the line between brilliant public relations and unethical manipulation? And do you think today’s digital-age PR is fundamentally different from what ancient rulers practised, or just the same instinct with better technology?

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_public_relations
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Reichenbach
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Lee
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays
5. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08821127.2015.1064681
6. https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/committee-on-public-information/