History

Fifty percent return on investment in 45 days, the Bernie Madoff of the day promised his clients in 1920. It was so deviously clever, the sham was given a name, the Ponzi Scheme. The New York Times has a story today about Charles Ponzi and the man who brought him down, his publicist William H. McMasters.

McMasters' memoir "The Ponzi Story" was recently acquired and catalogued by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and reveals the details of Ponzi's undoing by McMasters, and the publicist's bitterness that he didn't receive bigger credit in the case. Though McMasters sold the story to the Boston Post for the equivalent of $64,000 in today's money and the Post went on to win a Pulitzer, he remained unhappy upon finishing the transcript 42 years later. What's not stated in the article is that McMasters took the best of three options--drop Ponzi as a client and receive nothing, stick with him and destroy his own reputation, or drop a dime on him and put himself in the spotlight.

Too bad Harry Markopolos, the man who had suspicions about Madoff more 10 years ago didn't blow his whistle in quite the same way.

Normally, my Happy Hour video post consists of something that gently skewers the PR industry. Given the grave financial news this week, it seems more appropriate to take a look back in history to when Edward Bernays, father of PR and nephew of Sigmund Freud created the inextricable link between politics, business and the "self".

So when you go to the polls and choose to vote with the gut, consider that your Freedom Fries may come with a side of delicious Bernays sauce, whether you ordered it or not.

Need a very special, belated gift for that PR executive in your life?

Ebay has an auction for a first edition copy of "Biography of an idea" by Edward Bernays, considered by most to be the father of public relations.

Bernays is known for applying the theories of his uncle Sigmund Freud to shaping public perception and essentially creating the public relations industry. The price of history is $76 bucks (reserve not met) with about 33 hours to go.

Read the wikipedia entry. It's astonishing and darkly ironic to learn that his ideas were so revolutionary they influenced Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

An added bonus, the first edition copy is signed by Bernays to Hal Stebbins, an advertising expert in the 1960s.

(signed to advertising expert Hal Stebbins)