The Power of Astroturfing

By: Anthony Suszczynski

as309714@ohio.edu

Astroturfing was a term I had not heard of until this week. Astroturfing takes place when groups posing as grassroots organizations create media including websites and social media to further their cause. One such example of this is in the lecture. Americans Against Food Taxesappears to be an innocent organization with a righteous cause – the cause being against government taxes of certain foods. 

The lecture explains that this group was actually created by the beverage and food industry trade groups because they were upset with the taxes on pops and juices due to the high sugar content.

So why is this problematic? Who cares who makes the group if it’s for a good cause? It is problematic because they are deceiving the public. There is an extreme lack of transparency. The average person most likely thinks that Americans Against Food Taxesis a group unattached to the big food industries and trade groups. Another example from the lecture is Working Families for Walmart. This group appears to be organized by citizens because they want Walmart in their community, but is actually organized by Walmart because they want Walmart in the community. So the problem is that these groups are acting unethically and the causes are not necessarily meant to help the public, but instead they are meant to help further the group’s agenda. 

In a clip of “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver he sums up astroturfing well by saying, “When you add all of this together, fake groups hiring fake experts and fake crowds which manage to affect real world change, it gets pretty dispiriting and it can do real damage. It goes way beyond the narrow issues that each group is trying to influence.” I believe Oliver’s summary of the impact of astroturfing is nicely said. He mentioned the word “fake” three times in his summarization and I found an article by USA Today which deals with fake support. 

The USA Today article is titled, “Why you should be skeptical of 2020 candidates: ‘Astroturfing’ can distort public opinion.” On April 14, 2019 USA Today asked a question to their readers. The question was, “Which 2020 candidate is standing out to you and why?” The number one response was in support of a person named Andrew Yang. According to the article, “hundreds of emails supporting Yang came flooding in.” That is particularly interesting because the odds are that most reading this have never heard of Yang. The article states that he is, “polling in low single digits nationally.”

So why is this so much email support? The reason, as the article explains, is because of astroturfing. Just like the Americans Against Food Taxes andWorking Families for Walmartexamples from earlier, a group in support of Andrew Yang wants to change the public perception in an effort to further their cause – electing Yang to the presidency. So the small group most likely coordinated an effort to fire off a good load of emails to USA Today in support of Andrew Yang thus distorting the level of support he has nationally. 

Lastly, an example of astroturfing that has an unnerving feel to it is within a government. An article by CNN titled, “Researcher: China pays 280K people to boost its Web image” explains that China employs people to make the public image of the government look good. These people use message boards, comment sections, social networking, and blogs to promote the views of the Chinese government. So as you can see astroturfing can obviously be quite deceiving and can be used within food industries, interest groups, corporations, elections, and even governments. 

 

link to photo source

The Growth of Public Relations

Michaela T 

The root of a story: bankkita.com/explore/sprout-clipart-roots

The public relations business is an interesting field, as it places one between two interests: that of the public and that of the company/organization they are working for. While it’s a journalistic ideal to provide people with clear, complete information, companies or businesses may not want information about them to be cast in an unflattering light. For those in the PR profession, this unique balance is governed by its own code of ethics, seen on the PRSA website. Among its core values are Advocacy, Honesty, and Independence, with an intent to:

“To aid informed decision-making.

Avoid deceptive practices. 

Act promptly to correct erroneous communications.  • 

And Investigate the truthfulness and accuracy of information released on behalf of those represented.” 

With their high standards of responsibility, and respect to their relationship to the public, the PR field can not only be an asset to a company but also a voice for the people. As they are so involved in both company initiatives and public communication, it gives them a unique vantage point to act as a conduit for both parties interests. As the PRSA mentions in one of their annual meetings, it can be very beneficial for a company to have their PR team at meetings and discussions, and talk directly with CEOs about possible ethical situations as they arise.

And usually, the public relations field is quite successful in that.

However, there is also a bit of uncertainty brought on by some covert operations and grey-area practices. As Stuart Elliot mentions in an article for the New York times, talking about corporate publishers, such as Coca-Cola Journey, the company’s new content webpage, "A notable difference distinguishes Coca-Cola Journey from most of those media [newspaper and magazines], apart from custom publications or house organs: The storytelling on the Web site will be subjective, not objective, material that is favorable to the brands, products and interests of the Coca-Cola Company.” (2012, Elliot). This objectivism is long what distinguished news organizations as watchdogs for the safety and best interests of the people, especially when covering stories of those in power. Though corporate publishers may dispel truthful information, it’s also important to have a level of accountability, which an independent news team can offer.

Also when many online posts or sites may appear to be real, but are actually paid for by organizations seeking to sway the conversation in their favor, it can be imperative to have media that is both truthful and transparent.

What could be a solution to this, all while ensuring the continued credibility of PR? I  feel it can be three-fold: For companies to consider the ethical aspects of their actions, for news organizations to ensure their transparency and independence, and for people to follow a story, check its sources, and seek out multiple viewpoints. Overall, by looking out for one another, whether it be through a business decision or online, honesty and accuracy will prevail. As Michael Smart, PR pro says, "Truth is the only public relations that endures.” 

Ethics of Astroturfing

Kisha Ravi

kr208215@ohio.edu

Misinformation is a common problem today. When talking about misinformation, our minds usually think of the current state of the news industry and the internet. What isn’t talked about enough is the other aspects like astroturfing.

Astroturfing is defined as “the attempt to create an impression of widespread grassroots support for a policy, individual, or product, where little such support exists.” The internet and technology have made it increasingly easy for companies and groups to create fake movements to influence policy. While it may seem like it would be easy to spot such grassroots given they can’t be backed up, it’s not always that easy, much like the difficulty associated with spotting fake news.

There are different forms of astroturfing that we see online. Some include videos in favor of these “movements”, fake profiles and digital identities of people who support the fake grassroots, and even fake online reviews.

source: undraw.co

Astroturfing can also take the form of paying individuals to show up for a business in ways to make it look more popular and successful. One of the biggest examples is, McDonald's hired 1,000 part-time employees to get in line and create talk about the launch of their new burger in Japan. They were paid a mere $11 per hour to turn up even before the store opened up and it turned out to be a new set record for McDonald’s in Osaka.

While businesses indulging in astroturfing is unethical in itself, it becomes even more concerning when this phenomenon takes on a political nature. The Washington Post laid out the three different kinds of astroturfing seen in the year 2016. You had the bots, the fake profiles, and dark-money memes. It’s interesting to look at the use of memes in the process of astroturfing because it is a fairly new occurrence or trend, and it blends right in with the rest of social media culture.

The PRSA states in its code of ethics, “We adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth in advancing the interests of those we represent and in communicating with the public.” Astroturfing is without a doubt unethical and like for the rest of the information out there, we need to develop the tools and skills to identify misinformation, in whatever form it may be. We need to be more mindful about our media consumption.

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The Importance Behind Public Relations

Michaela Gress
mg732415@ohio.edu

Imagine that you are in a room getting out your notebook getting ready for your first day on the job. You walk into the conference room and set up your area at table and look around to see who you can introduce yourself to. 

You look and see a girl sitting just to the left of you and you go to say hi and she goes “sorry not in the mood to talk.” This completely throws you off guard and sort of gives you that bad impression of your first day on the job.

That scenario is how I would describe the idea of public relations. As defined on dictionary.com public relations is the art technique of promoting such goodwill. The idea of public relations is to bring a face to a group that is positive and willing to help.

Image Source

 In the workplace it is really important to have these two essentials in order to not only keep good relations with customers, coworkers, future employers but also to keep a good image on yourself as a person.

It is important to keep in mind that your attitude can affect others. Your job as a coworker is to be like a hype person and to encourage your coworkers to work and to be their best. They also should be doing the same to you. 

Teamwork makes the dream work as they always say so when you are deciding on how you should act a way keep in mind how your actions and words can affect other days.

Image Source

It is important to know your place in the workplace and what you should be doing yourself to help the group to strengthen. Keep in mind that it is ok to bring your ideas and opinions into the workplace however, you shouldn’t ever overstep your boundary. 

In doing this you give off the image that you do not have faith in your other coworkers and that you want all the success to be brought back on only you.

 It is ok to ask for help and to get ideas or opinions on what to do from others. 

Do not ever feel like you are alone in the world of trying to expand your brand or your workplace.

Being that kind smile that people know they can rely on and to have that positive attitude is what I would define as public relations.

Whether people should believe the news today.

Yichen Wei

yw130215@ohio.edu

  The phenomenon of astroturfing nowadays is growing by a considerable number and whether it is conceived by the public is hard to say. 

Image Source

   For a series of purposes, the outlets intend to make use of the commerce, governments,  etcetera to leave the reader an impression of widespread support they have from the grassroots. Social media and other media platforms are commonly used by the public every day and they could be displayed everywhere. Depending on this situation the companies or other backstage stakeholders are trying to utilize various approaches to exhibit tons of information in front of the public. We all understand the natural way of how human brains function, in other words, a kind of content that keeps repeating itself and may use some disguises would leave the reader a deep memory.
  Some approaches would be used as the way of astroturfing such as the persona software, the fake accounts, and the human astroturfers. It is an Internet era so that the information of everything could be founded by the seamless connection of everything. Also, information security becoming a serious issue as personal records could be easily gained in different ways. So the companies and outlets could find out the data resources they want anytime for creating astroturfing. Along with the fast development of high technologies, these ways become easier to initiate and apply. And of course, the skills are gradually becoming more mature and hard to recognized by the public. So whether should people still believe the information concluded in the news it is hard to give a judgment.
  However, these phenomenons are already becoming a trend and latent rule in this industry since they have to achieve the commercial or politic aims sometimes. the breaking of the rules is inevitable if this situation tends to be improved. The system of the censorship on these operations needed to be improved and authoritarian governments hopefully would interfere into it to give is more pressure. The creation and maintenance of an ethical and regulated media environment are critical to society and it is also a way to improve the credibility of the news outlets. it is the mutual function to each side whatever to the public or to the news companies either. For the news media companies, they required to hold their ethical codes and principles to set an example inside the whole industry and creates a good environment. For the audience is the information they received from the new is the content they could give one hundred trusts and obviously they would give its support and bring companies the profit they want.

The Basics of Public Relations

By Samantha Skvarek
ss062718@ohio.edu

Communications is such a broad major to study. I think a lot of people study communications in order to just have a degree. The biggest career I see coming from communications is public relations. Public relations is the spread of information and create a positive relationship between an individual or a company and the public. 

            One of the biggest roles in public relations is communicating the message. It is important to plan out what it is you want to express to your audience. I really think that the speaker needs to keep their speech simple. I find from personal experience with public speaking that audiences lose their attention. Nothing speaks boredom like people on the electronic devices, falling asleep or even talking amongst one another.

 I think speakers need to keep it short and specific. Along with keeping their messages short and simple, they need to be aware of who their audience is. If the audience has no interest or the message does not pertain to them, they will not listen. By keeping the message short and simple, it also allows the speaker to control what the audience hears. I find that what the audience perceives from people is often not what we are saying.

Another role for public relations is a customer liaison. They are the middle man. They account for customer problems, questions, and concerns. They coordinate with the proper people to provide answers in a timely fashion. Along with getting the point across they really need good communication skills and like to deal with people.

A mediator is another role of someone in public relations. They are the go-between person. People in public relations create an image and relationship that everyone is happy with and fulfills all needs by those who are involved.

            Having lots of friends within the public relations field, I see that more and more of my friends take on the role of marketing. Marketing is the number one way to create a positive image for a company. By marketing the company, they can generate new customers and satisfy the customers they already have. I think the difficult part to taking the role of marketing is not only marketing the company, but coming up with new way so to market the company.

            You can see that there a lot of roles within public relations. It takes a person who loves to deal with people in an organized fashion. The list goes on as what people in public relations need to do or have the potential to do.  

Astroturfing: Trust No One

Amanda Ehrmantraut

ae513115@ohio.edu

Source: news.softpedia.com

As online media continues to become the most prevalent source of news for most people, astroturfing grows more and more widespread and harmful.

           

Companies and organizations utilize astroturfing by secretly sponsoring certain campaigns or messages to make them appear as though they are started by “grassroots” participants. This misleading practice causes media consumers to believe that support for a certain movement or product is far more common than it truly is.

Astroturfing has occurred for a long time, but with more and more people trusting influencers and activists in this online media climate, it tends to sway public opinion much more effectively.

Fake social media accounts can be easily created and updated. Humans can even later be “assigned” to these accounts, maintaining the façade of realism. There is even more advanced software that creates fake IP addresses and makes organizations’ deception nearly untraceable.

Astroturfing campaigns are hard to catch, but there have been a few notable busts. When Australia was looking to pass legislation that would result in plainer cigarette packaging with emboldened warnings and hazards, it was met with disapproval by the Alliance of Australian Retailers, who argued these changes could harm small businesses. It was eventually revealed that big tobacco companies were financing the AAR.

On a smaller but more political scale, a Twitter account that supported Toronto’s ex-mayor Rob Ford was discovered to be run by his very own staff.

McDonald’s had a record-setting line outside the store for its new Quarter Pounder burger, but that was because it paid people to stand there.

Astroturfing is sometimes detectable, but it will never be possible to catch every instance. For this reason — and many others — it is important to take everything at face value and form your own opinions on every major issue. A group or campaign coming out in support or opposition of something may cause you to second guess, but always remember that you do not really know that group’s true motive.

Trust in media has declined, but trust in others has spiked a little too much. If you are looking for a new restaurant, you may check its online reviews, and they determine whether or not you choose to dine at that restaurant. Someone on Twitter posts an exposé thread against a business. You are shocked by the company’s actions or views and vow never to go there again. It is likely that you do not personally know the restaurant reviewers or the author of the Tweets. Still, you trust them, because their accounts have a name and a face. These experience must be real, and their words must be true. It is important for us to realize that this is not always the case.

The Evolution of Astroturfing in a Social Media Dominated World

Brandon Goddard

bg468718@ohio.edu

Everyone wants to display their support of ideals or people they have a vested interest in. It has become common place to see people starting websites, polls, or even social media pages dedicated to that support. It has been normalized to the common online user, but with the massive growth of social media it has become even more difficult to ascertain a genuine individual’s effort versus a backhanded corporate tactic. This tactic is not new nor is it something people lack exposure to, but social media has created a new shadow for it to hide in while quietly pushing a separate sponsor’s desired message. I am talking about Astroturfing.

(image source: https://lageneralista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Astroturf.png)

Grassroots movements are extremely powerful as an individual tends to have more reasons to support their fellow average citizen, someone who shares the same experiences as them. Grassroots organizing allows consumers to speak directly about their experiences and the effect of policies and programs. A strong grassroots base allows organizations to collect stories from consumers, and these stories become powerful weapons in any policy campaign. It is exceedingly effective because it essentially reflects the will of the people or individual. There’s no corporate filter and no ulterior motives, just people seeking change for the betterment of the common person and community. That is until politicians and businessmen recognized this sort of movement’s usefulness and attempted to employ the same tactics through fabrication. Also known as Astroturfing. Companies create misinformation or quite literally ‘sponsor’ people to support them under the guise of a grassroots movement in an attempt to sway public opinion positively on them. One of the most prevalent examples was the spoof video of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, which had two hard sides of support of criticism on its views of Global Warming. One man carried such strong views he made a criticism spoof video that went viral. But who was this man that put such effort and time into portraying Gore as some cartoon villain? Turns out it wasn’t a man, afterall. The Wall Street Journal traced it back to DCI Group, a PR and lobbying firm employed by Exxon Mobil. An Exxon spokesman for one of the largest publicly traded international oil and gas companies denied any funding or approval of such a thing.

Considering the effect this video had on people’s perceptions of the work and how burning gas affects our planet, I am curious if it benefited Exxon Mobil’s agenda? Who knows, only Sherlock Holmes could put together the pieces of such an impossible mystery.

With the rise of social and technology, Astroturfing has taken on new faces. With fan pages on Facebook, unofficial accounts supporting some policy under the guise of a motivated individual, and even falsified reviews. Social media’s role in contributing to the crazy escalation of astroturfing is hard to ignore. Decades ago, astroturfing relied on offline tactics to gain traction and attention, with journalists not too far behind to figure out the legitimacy. But now any person can create a social media account to astroturf on, allowing them to freely distribute misinformation and interact directly with audiences. In this online era of “citizen journalism” everyone has to be more careful in what information and news they trust.

The Astroturf is Always Greener on the Other Side

Amanda Southern
as600718@ohio.edu

As a person who has been using the internet since the early days of dial-up modems, I have come to the realization that not every single thing that I read online is real, or the truth.

I know that when I look at the comments section of a post made by some blogger that my friend shared and see mean responses sprinkled into the nice ones, that those people are probably just "trolls" and have nothing better to do than to go around writing hateful things about others.

What I was not aware of, until recently, was the extent to which the "trolls" are taking over. Apparently, some of the trolls are getting paid.

 I should say, a lot of trolls are getting paid; and they are everywhere. It turns out there are actual businesses who hire the public to pretend to do all sorts of things in order to make you think that everybody else feels a certain way about something, when they may not. This is called "astroturfing."

Image from : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

 A simple and not-so-startling example of this was when McDonald's hired 1,000 people to stand in line for the new quarter-pounder cheeseburger in Japan. They were trying to generate a buzz about their product by making it look like people were so excited about the release that they would stand in a line that wrapped around the building. Now, I don't think what they did was right, but overall, I think it was pretty harmless. The problem is that this is just one example from a multitude of examples that each chip away at what we think is the truth little by little.

Astroturfing and manipulation of media is all around us. It's the constant barrage of mixed messages that, I think, is going to do us in.

We, as humans, are social creatures and we want to be liked. If we feel one way about a topic, but see on the news that there is a huge rally going on protesting what we believe, we naturally start to question how it is that we really feel. But what if those people who are protesting are really just actors being paid a few bucks from those who could benefit from the other side of the issue? What if most of our peers feel the same way we do?

How do we know when to believe what we see?

Many of us would try to do some research on the topic. Unfortunately, the astroturfers are on top of that as well. Those same corporations that paid those actors, even have people inside of popular search sites like Wikipedia, who alter what information you can find about the issues you're researching. They pay to move their positively-spun content up to the top of the search list on Google and do countless other things to convince you that you should think differently.

My question is, where does it end and how will we ever know what is fact and what is fiction in this world?

I guess the answer is to follow the money.

Mount Carmel's PR Ethical Nightmare

bs014317@ohio.edu
Brenda Stepp


For those who are not from Central Ohio or have been living under a rock for the last six months, Mount Carmel Health Systems, a large hospital system in Columbus, Ohio, have experienced a series of PR nightmares.  The first began in November, 2018 when it came to light that a critical care specialist at Mount Carmel West Hospital in Columbus, Dr. William Husel, was fired and escorted out of Mount Carmel West, after allegedly ordering large doses of pain medication that ultimately caused the death of twenty-five patients entrusted to his care.

Kantele Franko, AP (Photo Credit)

As an employee of Mount Carmel, we see press releases when they are released to the media.  We were told that there were several nurses and pharmacists that were suspended when this first came to light. This, of course, begs the question.  How much did Mount Carmel know and who is ultimately responsible?

As the months went on, that question remains in my mind.  These patients were injected with hundreds of times the amount of medication.  This was ordered by the physician, released by the pharmacist and given by a nurse.  These professionals had to have known these were no where near safe dosages of medication, correct?

We have always been taught that the physician is the ultimate decision maker.  We were not to question the physician.  To be fair, this attitude did not only exist at Mount Carmel but at all hospitals, care centers and doctor offices.   Physicians are trusted to make the correct call.  The only people that generally question a physician is another physician.

In order to combat this problem with the Mount Carmel System, a class was put in place that all employees must attend, regardless of position within the company.  The class is called "Zero Harm".  This program was developed to foster an environment of cooperation and empower any employee within the system to question an order or voice an opinion of a plan of treatment.  So far, this seems to be improving the system within Mount Carmel.

The problem still remains...how does Mount Carmel regain its image in the public perspective?  We must be completely open about what is happening and keep the public up to date.  We must be fully transparent, no matter the perception of the information presented.  We have an ethical responsibility to release truthful information as soon as it is available.  We must not try to hide our dirty laundry but lay it all out in the open.  Will Mount Carmel lose patients?  Yes.  We already have.  In order to remain in business in this community be must be open and forthright if we have any hope of regaining our status in this community.

The media has been brutal.  Employees were followed to their cars and the media did their very best to track down the names of those suspended.  While it is ethical to report what is happening to the public, that line, in my opinion, is crossed when the press is hounding someone who has not yet, and will not be, charged with a crime.

Now, we also have the matter of the Legionnaires Disease at Mount Carmel Grove City.  Mount Carmel West closed its doors in late April.  Its replacement?  Mount Carmel Grove City.  Let's see if Zero Harm is working like it was intended.