New Elizabethans

Here are four people I believe are 'New Elizabethans'. They have impacted the way our society works, whether that be for good or bad and I don't think the world we know would be the same without them;

Ronald McDonald. An internationally recognised character that I believe is pivotal to our fast paced society, the idea of wanting everything immediately; bigger, better and cheaper than before. Society has lost 'the attention to detail' and 'made with love' quality that we once thrived upon. Therefore I believe that McDonald is a physical representation of modern day consumerism. 

Hugh Hefner. The creator of Playboy. For me,  the enterprise he built was the starting point of a whole new take on the female generation. Playboy was instrumental in determining 'sex' as a socially acceptable household discussion topic. In turn, stripping glamour modelling of its initial taboo. 

This is not to say that 'sex' wasn't selling long before his emblematic bunny logo hit the shelves. However, because of Hefner's supposed 'sex cult', young, impressionable girls find themselves aspiring to be, or similar to, WAGs and glamour models. It's a simple, yet effective, business model and many women today thrive on building their 'career' through baring all. Unsurprisingly, men all over the world rejoiced the day Hugh came to earth.

Walt Disney. Despite the many stories of being a maniac and a fraudster, some where along the line, in almost every bodies life, Disney has affected you. Whether that be as a child holding on to something so captivating and full of hope, or entering adulthood and having your Disney bubble popped by the harsh reality that fairytales are only in the movies. 

Our society is all about escapism, avoiding the disappointment of prince charming beating up Snow White behind closed doors, or even the forgotten princess dying of cancer. Whatever your opinion on Disney, it does exactly what it says on the tin. 

Edward Bernays. Whilst most of you will have never heard of this man, all have been affected by his mind in one way or another. He was the nephew of Sigmund Freud and, like his uncle, was fascinated by the complexities of the human mind. Bernays founded the first ever PR company and one of his most famous campaigns was making smoking for women socially acceptable. Before Bernays, women smoking in public was unheard of; there were designated areas and most were too ashamed to use them. With cigarette companies in crisis, Bernays put together a campaign in which he persuaded designers to create dresses in the exact colour of the cigarette boxes, and got together a huge marching parade of models walking through New York City smoking, he also suggested that the Statue of Liberty was smoking, which was then seen as patriotic. 

In 2011, in America alone, there was counted as over 7,000 companies alone specialising in PR, speaking volumes for the propaganda and manipulation we face every day. It is thanks to Edward Bernays that there is 'no such thing as bad publicity'.