HOW AMERICA GOT ITS BREAKFAST

The majority of the American film begins with a breakfast scene in which toast, fried bacon, and eggs are given along with a glass of orange juice. The protagonist quickly picks a piece of toast and heads out the door for work. For many decades, this has been the traditional breakfast in America. After all, bacon and eggs are chock-full of protein while orange juice provides a healthy dose of vitamin C. This was a popular belief not only among Americans, but it was also served as an American breakfast around the world.

Americans can hardly think of eating anything else for breakfast. In reality this staple breakfast is hardly a century old. In truth, this breakfast concoction of bacon, eggs, and orange juice is anything from conventional; it is the culmination of two of the most effective marketing strategies created by the greatest marketing minds of the 20th century. Edward Bernays was the mastermind behind designing bacon and egg to amalgamate with breakfast of  american minds on the other hand  Alan lasker was the major stakeholder in incorporating Orange juice to american breakfast.

WHO WAS EDWARD BERNAYS 

Edward Louis Bernays was an American theorist who was regarded as a pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda, and was titled “the father of public relations” in his obituary. . Born on November 22, 1891 in Vienna, Bernays was in the same family as the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. From his early days itself, Bernays was interested in the theory of his uncle Freud. He used his uncle’s (Freud) ideas to convince the public and to manipulate them. His most popular campaign was in 1929 encouraging women to smoke by branding cigarettes as feminist “torches of freedom”.

In 1922, the Beech-Nut Packing Company approached Bernays, noting that Beech-Nut’s sales of bacon and eggs had been steadily declining for decades. The vast shifts that occurred in the American labor market were largely to blame for this. The majority of Americans worked on farms for hundreds of years, and they ate hearty breakfasts like bacon and eggs to fuel their labor.

However, as industrialization progressed, a lot of Americans moved to the cities and took jobs that didn’t require as much physical exertion as earlier. At the same time, evangelists like John Harvey Kellogg began advocating a bland diet of cereals to ward off sinful impulses, and people were turning away from rich, fatty foods as concerns about indigestion and weight loss grew. Oatmeal, a piece of fruit or a glass of orange juice, a cup of coffee, and a roll or piece of toast were all that were required for the typical American breakfast by the 1920s.

Bernays first contacted the resident physician at his agency and inquired about whether a light or heavy breakfast would be better for overall health in order to halt the trend. He recalled later:

“[He agreed] that a heavy breakfast was healthier from the standpoint of health than a light breakfast because the body loses energy during the night and needs it during the day. We asked the physician: would he be willing, at no cost, to write to 5000 physicians and ask them whether their judgment was the same as his? He said he would be glad to do it. We [sent] out a letter to 5000 physicians; obviously all of them concurred that a heavier breakfast was better for the health of the American people than a light breakfast.”

It was developed with a working-class goal in mind: to give energy and prevent hangovers.In August and September of that year, newspapers across the nation celebrated the verdict of approximately 4500 doctors, with the Chicago Tribune recommending:

 “Brain workers and persons in sedentary occupations should eat a substantial breakfast [of] fruit, cereals, bacon, eggs, toast—or as we of the south prefer, hot biscuits.”

On the other hand, newspapers like THE LOS ANGELES TIME announced news under the headline ENTER THE BIG BREAKFAST. These were made in such a manner that the light breakfast of America was made to seem like fancy imitations from the British. And it was through heavy breakfast that a young republic grew to lord overship.

This campaign was a huge success. The Beach Nut Company’s sales soared as a result of this promotion, making it an instant hit. They had returned to the 1900s, their era. However, the association between breakfast and bacon and eggs has become so ingrained in American culture that 70% of bacon is still eaten there at breakfast.

WHO WAS ALBERT LASKER

Albert Davis Lasker was an American businessman who had a significant impact on how modern advertising is done today.He planned and produced several advertising, many of which were successful. He changed popular culture and appealed to consumer psychology by using radio in inventive ways. He was a Republican who developed creative electoral marketing strategies, especially for the Warren Harding campaign in 1920, and who afterwards became philanthropic.He was known as the American Godfather of Marketing.

Until 1910, orange juice was never served at breakfast in the United States. During 1908, American orange production was booming, but demand was decreasing, resulting in an orange surplus and an increasing threat to tank prices and industry. In 1908, the Southern California Fruit Growers Association partnered with Lasker’s business Lord & Thomas to increase orange sales to the American public. Lasker initially renamed the organization sunskit.

By 1916 he came up with a  new solution: an American only eats half an orange for breakfast but needs to take 3 to 4 oranges to have a glass of orange juice. To promote Americans to drink orange juice  Lasken designed a simple home juice press and heavily promoted it in magazines like The Saturday evening post with slogans like “drink an orange”.

 
While the orange juice campaign was in full swing, a new disease, acidosis, was discovered in America. Previously, vitamin deficiency was the primary cause of acidosis. Sunskit took full advantage of this. Sunskit used newspapers to highlight the dangers of acidosis, claiming that it would make women unattractive. They promoted “drinking an orange” as a cure for the disease. Despite the fact that by 1935, it had been discovered that acidosis was a rare disease that had nothing to do with the consumption of orange juice. But the damage had already been done. The consumption of oranges had a whopping increase of 400%.

By the end of the campaign, it was cemented in the minds of Americans as a healthy drink. but the evidence and facts were contradictory. In fact, the average glass of orange juice contains 27g of sugar, the same as a can of coca cola. Thus, the daily consumption of orange juices poses the same threat for diabetes as those sugary sodas.
As a result of all of this, many of our most routine behaviors are meticulous. There’s a strong possibility you regularly eat a particular food, drink, or other product because a marketing executive somewhere wanted you to, regardless of how “traditional” it may seem. The degree of manipulation is the true danger that exists. If our behaviors were influenced by current political tactics, our thoughts might be altered. What does it matter if we consume items because we need them rather than because we want them? It is clear that current marketing techniques can be utilized to influence public opinion. As a result, it is now necessary for us to examine not only our routines but also our thoughts.