What is Astroturfing
Astroturfing. What is it? If you are thinking it has anything to do with space and surfing, think again. Do you think astroturfing has something to do with that fake grass they use on sports fields? Well, you're closer.
Astro turf is the artificial grass they use to put on sports fields. It was first used in the Astrodome, thus the name astro turf, but astroturfing is used as a metaphor.
Astroturfing is actually a metaphor referring to actual astro turf used on sports fields, but astroturfing isn't used in field sports at all. At least not sports like football and soccer. This type of astroturfing is used in the sports of advertising and politics.
Astroturfing in this sense, is used as a verb, an action word.
- To astroturf, is astroturfing. It is something one does.
What is astroturfing doing? The true definition of astroturfing in the political and advertisement sense is:
- elaborate public relations (PR) campaigns that intend to lead to the idea of being involuntary, "grassroots" behavior.
This is where the metaphor comes in. The root of astroturfing is astro turf, which means artificial or fake grass. The term astro turf is used for those who are astroturfing, to imply that the support is from "fake grassroots."
Who is astroturfing? They are called astroturfers and they start out as just part of the campaign committee. They only become astroturfers when they have actually done the astroturfing. They are the people behind the product being advertised or the politician running for an office of some kind.
Why are they astroturfing? The idea behind astroturfing is to hide the plan of their client as an autonomous public response to a political body. They astroturf to protect their client or product, or whatever it is they may be campaigning.
Astroturfers make an effort to direct what goes on during the campaign to best meet the needs of the client. For example, making sure that the product or the person the astroturfers are trying to advertise or represent, gets into higher professional meetings and/or has large businesses funding the product or person. This is called astroturfing. Astroturfing is usually done in a way that no one will ever know about or that makes it hard to prove.
Who does astroturfing affect? Astroturfing is completely based on making a better representation for the client, no matter what they might have to hide. Astroturfing affects the astroturfers, the client, the groups who sponsor or help promote the client, and most importantly astroturfing affects the people who may vote for the client or buy the product that is being advertised.
Where does astroturfing come from?
Astroturfing is an older idea.
One of the first examples of astroturfing was during the turn of the 20th century. Many newspapers were being sponsored by political parties. This would be described as astroturfing by the political parties.
Although astroturfing was more common and well known about in history, astroturfing it still found today.
Here is a more recent example of astroturfing:
In 2006 a "You Tube" video about Al Gore was released, claiming to be an amateur video. The first sign of suspicion was that someone was paying a lot of money to promote the video. The investigation grew from there and the result was there was some astroturfing going on behind all of that.
Where is astroturfing happening?
Astroturfing could be in every campaign for every person and every advertisement, but it's pretty hard to find, and occasionally the result ends up being just the accusation of astroturfing.
Now that you know what astroturfing is, who astroturfers are, who astroturfing affects, where astroturfing comes from, and where it might be happening, you may never look at the astro turf on the sports field the same way again.
