Indeed. That is where Edward Bernays came into play. He is seen as the "father of human relations," or at least propaganda. He used the principles that his uncle (Sigmund Freud) to sell products. He didn't actually involve his uncle since Sigmund Freud lived in Austria, not the US, and Freud's political beliefs and knowledge of psychology left him not wanting to help in this endeavor. Freud hated "crass capitalism."

One of Bernays' projects was to help tobacco companies to get women to smoke cigarettes. He believed that women refused to smoke because they saw cigarettes on par with penises and believed it was improper for them to have them. So he did what you mentioned by having a handful of upper-class women in the audience at a large event to all light up cigarettes and smoke them at a critical point in the event. And of course, the press was tipped off about this in advance. The press wrote about some brave women lighting "Torches of Freedom" at the event. So that event made it socially acceptable for women to smoke.

As for Freud, he eventually came upon hard times and Bernays helped him out by marketing Freud as an expert and selling books in his name. Everyone loved "Uncle Siggy."