From the Torches of Freedom to the Chainsaw for Bureaucracy

🪚 How Symbols Shape Power, Control, and the Future of Political Narratives

Edward Bernays. Credit: drilled.media

Introduction: The Power of Symbols in Shaping Perceptions

In 1929, the so-called “father of PR,” Edward Bernays, orchestrated a cultural moment that reshaped gender norms and corporate influence: the Torches of Freedom campaign. By framing cigarette smoking as an act of feminist liberation, he transformed a health hazard into a symbol of empowerment, boosting tobacco industry sales while embedding cigarettes into feminist iconography.

Nearly a century later, another symbol emerged in political hands—but this time, the message was destruction rather than liberation. The "chainsaw for bureaucracy", first wielded by Argentina’s Javier Milei and then gifted to Elon Musk, has become the latest theatrical prop in a political narrative of radical upheaval.

Yet, the question remains: Who benefits from this destruction? What new systems and power structures will emerge from the wreckage?

This newsletter unpacks the semiotics of this political shift, exploring how influential figures weaponise symbols to create perceptional shifts and what this means for businesses, media, and brands navigating a turbulent landscape.

How can brands successfully navigate this new turbulent environment?

🔒 Paid subscribers get exclusive insights into how brands can navigate symbolic warfare and attention economy shifts. Subscribe today for deep dives, case studies, and cutting-edge narrative strategy breakdowns.

🗽 From the Torches of Freedom to the Chainsaw for Bureaucracy

🔥 The Bernays Playbook: Manufacturing Liberation

Edward Bernays was a master of psychological persuasion. His Torches of Freedom campaign tapped into the momentum of the suffragette movement, reframing a corporate product (cigarettes) as a political tool for women’s empowerment. The success of this campaign wasn’t about the product itself but the symbolic shift it created in public consciousness.

---

If you haven’t seen it, I strongly suggest checking out The Century of the Self, a 2002 documentary by Adam Curtis. It offers a fascinating and insightful viewpoint on our times, examining how symbolic power is used to shape, engineer, and provoke narratives through the media. Curtis's main subject in this documentary is Edward Bernays, who asserts that the “Public Relations man is the creator of circumstances.” You will have a deeper understanding of the political spectacle we are watching in front of us.