A provocative history of how corporate titans in the 1920s used a massive public relations campaign to transform public opinion on big business.
In the early twentieth century, as Americans erupted in righteous indignation over the flagrant abuses of big business, utility executives faced a crisis of existential proportions. With calls for strict regulation or outright government ownership of utilities, how could streetcar, electricity, and telephone executives thwart municipal ownership, rein in regulation, and secure huge profits?
In Courteous Capitalism, Daniel Robert reveals how utility executives answered this question by launching the largest nongovernmental public relations campaign the nation had ever seen. In one aspect of the campaign, managers compelled their clerks to exude "courtesy," "sunshine," and "patience" toward customers. Rather than bribe the few, executives would convert the many using this emotional labor and improved customer servic
