What Is Astroturfing? Ethics, Impact, and Examples

At first glance, a term like astroturfing might sound pretty cool, but it’s anything but. Instead, astroturfing refers to a deceptive marketing and advertising practice in which you feign a natural, grassroots movement.

Instead, a company is behind it all, pulling the strings and orchestrating the success. The reason it’s known as astroturfing because of its origins in the grassroots, yet don’t be fooled. It’s not a genuine grassroots movement.

Faking the truth or obscuring connections between certain parties may seem like a surefire path to success, but what often happens is the opposite of what businesses want. Your reputation will go down the drain, your customers could abandon you, and you may struggle to sell products and services and collect new quality leads.

In short, it’s a mess!

In this blog post, we’ll dive into the full implications of astroturfing and how to recognize one so you can avoid it and save your business.

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

Astroturfing is an orchestrated grassroots movement involving paying others to promote your products, being dishonest about your connections with affiliates and sponsors, and otherwise misleading and deceiving an audience. It can have myriad negative consequences on your audience, competitors, and industry.
Fortunately, you can use tools to identify astroturfing as it happens to keep your business compliant and free of any fines. You will also stay in your customers’ good graces.

The Basics of Astroturfing

As I mentioned, “astroturfing” directly connects to grassroots movements. The “grass” in grassroots movements is natural, whereas, with astroturfing, it’s decidedly artificial.

It’s believed the term was first used by Lloyd Bentsen in 1985, a senator in Texas who was dubious about a pile of letters he had received all discussing recent insurance legislation. It turns out he was right to be suspicious, as the letters came from insurers.

Of course, we no longer write letters, but astroturfing is still alive and well. If anything, the proliferation of the internet has allowed it to spread faster and more easily than ever before.

Companies can deliberately obscure an association with a financial backer or blast emails by the thousands and pretend they’re from customers when they come from a business.

Companies use those tactics when engaging in this morally sketchy practice. Here are some others.

Misleading advertisements

Some organizations will produce ads that seem to come from a public interest group, nonprofit, or private website. However, when you click or interact with the online ad, you’ll be taken to a page produced with a corporate slant. This is a classic but very real type of astroturfing.

Pay-for-play relationships with third parties

Influencers, bloggers, and content creators should choose the products and services they review based on their niche and what they think their audience could benefit from. However, some, especially unscrupulous, third parties might attack a company.

Under a pay-to-play model, an influencer, content creator, or blogger will receive goodies for writing nice things about the company’s product or service. For example, they might get trips, cash, or gifts.

This goes beyond sending the third party the product or service to try at no expense to them. This is wrongly obtaining positive coverage.

Sockpuppets

Wait, sockpuppets? That’s right. When a company signs up to sites like 4Chan or Reddit and makes as many fake accounts as possible, that’s known as sockpuppets. The fake accounts will then post comments en masse about a topic.

The posts are similar but not identical, giving readers the illusion that people care about a topic when, in reality, all the interest is coming from one company with an agenda.

“Unbiased” reviews

Going hand in hand with these pay-for-play relationships are reviews built to seem unbiased and inspire consumer trust. However, they are anything but. The reviews gently (or even not-so-gently) guide a consumer toward a decision. The readers might not even know that they’re being deceived, which is even worse once you have people handing over their hard-earned money.

Hidden affiliate connections

Likewise, obscuring connections is the name of the game with astroturfing. Although legally, you’re supposed to reveal if you’re engaging in affiliate marketing as an affiliate or vendor, failing to publicize that information and doing it intentionally is a form of astroturfing.

Why businesses use astroturfing

The main reason a company turns to astroturf is to generate results they can’t or have been unable to obtain themselves.

They can “create” positive public opinion without naturally generating it for their products or services. They can get people talking about a topic they artificially inflated by posting about it using fake accounts.

It can seem like a shortcut to achieving results, although since it’s inauthentic, there are often many negative consequences.

The Impacts of Astroturfing

To say astroturfing has a ripple effect would be an understatement. Let’s explore further.

On consumers

How would you feel if you were hoodwinked by a company that you had previously trusted? It doesn’t feel good, of course.

You might contact the company about the kerfuffle, but even if you get a satisfactory response, your trust for the company may be gone. You likely won’t keep the experience to yourself, sharing it on social media and personally among your friends, family, and colleagues.

Of course, you’ll probably want to hit the company where it hurts, leaving it a negative review to warn others so they don’t have to repeat your experience.

Worst of all, after one incidence of astroturfing, you as a consumer might feel more dubious about all businesses in the future, even legit ones.

On businesses

Astroturfing has tremendously bad consequences on businesses, whether done intentionally or accidentally (and yes, astroturfing can happen by accident, which I’ll discuss later). As described above, it erodes consumer trust.

Further, astroturfing will lead to more negative reviews, reduced sales, greater customer turnover, a poor business reputation, and possibly lower SEO (if engaging in bad search engine practices).

On market competition

A business that falls victim to astroturfing might only be concerned with themselves and how to recover, but there’s a bigger impact than just one company alone. Astroturfing creates unfair competition in that other competitors who might not have been as viable suddenly seem so.

However, consumers lose out if their products or services are of lower quality. They can choose the company with the shoddy reputation or the one with the better reputation but products that leave something to be desired.

Unsurprisingly, this can negatively influence market dynamics, potentially weakening the market as a whole.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

The two most glaring issues with astroturfing are its ethical and legal ramifications. Here’s what you need to know.

Legality of astroturfing

Since it’s so disruptive to various industries, can hurt consumer trust, and allow low-quality competition to flourish, it should be no surprise that astroturfing is illegal in different regions.

Here is an overview of various regional regulations and laws against astroturfing and what kinds of punishments violators are at risk of:

Australia: Under the Australian Consumer Law, Section 18, deceiving and misleading audiences is illegal. Competitors can take legal action against businesses caught engaging in astroturfing. Further, the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN) protects against this behavior.
European Union: The EU has established its Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. Any business with “a material connection” cannot intentionally mislead consumers “into thinking they are a regular consumer.” Further, any editorial content that appears in the media and is paid for must be disclosed as sponsored.
United States: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) created the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, which covers word-of-mouth and social media marketing. All reviews published must be honest and use disclosures as necessary, or you will risk facing a fine of $16,000 a day.

Ethical implications

Although ethics don’t directly hurt your business’s wallet the same way that being fined thousands of dollars does, the implications often run deeper and far longer term than many realize.

Astroturfing is essentially corruption. It makes it a lot harder for consumers to find trustworthy information. They might not be able to believe in the reviews they read, especially considering that upwards of 30% of reviews are fake. Some sources say it can even be as high as 40%.

These days, sniffing out fake reviews from the real ones is getting harder. Because they were misled by a fake review or faux grassroots movement, consumers who make poor decisions may feel even more distrustful of corporations.

Largely, consumers already don’t trust businesses, with about 30% of consumers saying they do. Most companies believe the trust rate is much higher, creating a disconnect. Astroturfing only serves to worsen that disconnect.

Recognizing Astroturfing

How do you know if you’ve fallen victim to astroturfing? There are a series of red flags to be aware of, and they include:

Letters are printed on stationery but using different colors and typefaces.
The materials often used charged language to gain traction and media attention.
Despite being published by different parties, the language may sound suspiciously similar from one review or forum post to another.
Sudden activity spikes may occur even when not actively promoting a product or service.
A huge influx of reviews, including many positive reviews, may all read the same.
Likewise, you might get negative reviews as more people realize they’ve fallen prey to astroturfing and call out your company about it.

Tools and techniques for detection

If everyone could discern whether a comment, blog post, or review is astroturfing, we wouldn’t have this conversation right now. There would be no need. The fact that I’m talking about it means that it’s not always so easy to detect.

Fortunately, you have methods for ascertaining whether you’re dealing with astroturfing. You can try one of these awesome tools to confirm the case.

CrowdTangle

CrowdTangle was a tool from the Facebook brand Meta that, although not created exclusively for astroturfing detection, was useful. The tool allowed you to track Instagram and Facebook content, including specific public accounts.

You could dig deep into trends via reports, deciphering if they started organically or if the results of a grassroots campaign went wrong.

Hoaxy

With a name like Hoaxy, you can expect it to help combat astroturfing. It has multiple features you’ll find handy for your purposes.

For one, you can review the kinds of patterns bots follow. That can help you determine if posts are coming from an authentic, legitimate place or being blasted online to help along a faux grassroots movement.

Secondly, it can fact-check the legitimacy of posts on social media. Not every false post is necessarily astroturfing, but if it is, you want to be aware of it to stop it. Finally, Hoaxy is excellent for visualizing how claims spread, which could help you track the source.

Botometer

The Twitter tool Botometer is an OSoMe project that gathers information about accounts on Twitter and then assigns them scores. Based on the scores, you can tell whether an account is legitimate or likely a bot.

OSINT

Open-source intelligence, or OSINT, is another awesome way to confirm whether astroturfing might have occurred on your company’s dime. OSINT isn’t a tool or software but a collection of methodologies that can yield your desired results.

For example, OSINT tools can perform impression analyses, determining how much engagement a post receives relative to how often it appears in a social media user’s feed. A high engagement rate with a low rate of impressions doesn’t make sense and signifies a bot.

OSINT can also perform network analyses, determining what kinds of accounts are interconnected. This is important, as bots tend to only connect with other bots, not human users.

Behavioral analyses can divulge any discrepancies or oddities in behavior that might indicate a bot, such as posting too many times far faster than any human can or posting at all hours of the day and night.

Expert insights

What do the pros say about astroturfing, and how do they recommend evading it? I’ve got the answers for you right here.

Philosophy & Social Criticism

Joy Chan, in her 2022 report “Online astroturfing: A problem beyond disinformation,” as published in the journal Philosophy & Social Criticism, writes about how astroturfing is a unique beast compared to coordinated inauthentic behavior or CIBs.

Chan shares:

“The problem of astroturfing is unique because of how it connects our tendency to conform…If I am not sure whether a famous YouTuber is expressing her own genuine opinion or if she is merely advertising a new cosmetic treatment, I can ask my family doctor for a more reliable expert opinion on the treatment. If I suspect a news report we read online is fake, I can check it against other reliable news outlets.

The problem of astroturfing is unique because even if I am aware of the problem, there is no quick and easy way to verify whether the crowd sentiment is authentic, especially when pluralistic ignorance is at play. In this way, online astroturfing is much more dangerous than other forms of CIBs in that it has the potential to spread and stabilize sub-optimal norms quickly and efficiently.”

Experience Life

In a 2018 article in Experience Life by Life Time, Dallas Hartwig and Pilar Gerasimo, a physiotherapist and journalist, respectively, share their insights for warding off instances of astroturfing.

Hartwig recommends the following:

“Pick a notable new thing you’ve learned online in the last year – some idea that grabbed you or that changed your opinion. Think about how you came upon that new idea, whether you spent any time checking out its legitimacy, and if groupthink played any part in your perception of reality.”

Gerasimo suggested:

“Educate yourself about astroturfing and how it works. See if these new insights inspire you to become a more discerning media consumer and to spot an astroturfing effort when you see it more easily.”

Real-Life Examples of Astroturfing

Before you ask how often astroturfing happens, the answer is all the time. It’s insidious and widespread and could occur right under your nose without you knowing it. Plenty of higher-profile examples from over the years can serve as cautionary tales.

I’ll share five of the most profound lessons learned.

Case study 1: Working Families for Walmart

Working Families for Walmart astroturfing blog — *Image courtesy of Media Culpa*

Walmart has courted its fair share of controversy and opposition over the years, especially as it continues expanding in places where people would rather not have a Walmart. The website Working Families for Walmart does not help with this case.

This pro-Walmart blog was designed to showcase the everyday American family and provide what appeared to be natural, grassroots Walmart support.

However, there was more than meets the eye. Peeling the curtain back on the blog revealed that a public relations firm, Edelman, was publishing the content. The problem? Walmart is an Edelman client. The firm was receiving money from Walmart to write and maintain the blog.

Case study 2: Comcast FCC hearing

Major service provider Comcast was in hot water in 2008, enough to land a hearing with the FCC to call into question its neutrality. Many media companies, from Vuze to Public Knowledge and Free Press, claimed that Comcast was stopping video-on-demand services from competitors to monopolize the tech.

When the time came for a hearing, it was packed to the gills. Comcast had paid various people to attend the hearing. Many would applaud everything that anyone pro-Comcast said while some slept. The goal was to prevent authentic critics of Comcast from attending, and it mostly worked.

Case study 3: McDonald’s Japan

In a similar move, McDonald’s drummed up buzz for its Quarter Pounder in Japan with huge, long lines to chow down on the burger. What draws interest in a product faster than seeing so many people clambering to get it? Exactly.

The Osaka Mickey-D’s had never experienced such sales until that day.

As has been the case with all these examples, though, things were not quite as they seemed.

While people genuinely lined up to try the burger, it turns out that 1,000 people in line were part-time McDonald’s employees tasked with creating and maintaining a line. They made a line way early at midnight the night before when Mickey-D’s wasn’t even open because McDonald’s was that eager to make a good impression.

At least the employees received compensation for their time at $11 an hour.

Case study 4: Rob Ford

Rob Ford, once the mayor of Toronto, sure had a lot of people who agreed with his policies. It only took a cursory Twitter search to see his widespread support as his campaign unfolded. Even those once on the side of George Smitherman, Ford’s opponent, had suddenly seemed to switch allegiance.

Ford’s arguments must have been that compelling. He did win his election, so clearly, he had something going for him.

What he had going for him was fake grassroots support. His deputy communications director, Fraser Macdonald, had been posing as a fake Twitter account by the name of Karen Philby.

The account started as a way to get footage from the Toronto Star. Once the account achieved that objective, it got used to drum up support for Ford.

Case study 5: Exxon Mobil

You’d have to live under a rock not to be aware of An Inconvenient Truth, the Al Gore documentary, which came out in 2006. Maybe you didn’t see it, but you knew about it.

And, of course, the documentary had people divided. One Toutsmith on YouTube felt so strongly that he uploaded a video in May 2006 called Al Gore’s Penguin Army, which featured Gore’s superimposed head on the Batman villain’s body.

It’s still online, so you can watch it for yourself below.

The Wall Street Journal dug to discover that Toutsmith wasn’t just any ol’ YouTube user. No siree. Instead, the video is attributed to the DCI Group, Exxon Mobil’s lobbying firm.

Lessons learned

Businesses of all sizes have tried astroturfing, from McDonald’s to Exxon. And, in just about every case, they’ve been found out. Some, like McDonald’s, copped up to it and admitted the long line at their restaurant was for “market research” purposes (whatever that means), while others, like Exxon, didn’t.

No one is above getting caught for astroturfing, but is it worth it? The answer is certainly no.

Combatting Astroturfing

Astroturfing is the quick way to get more engagement and buzz, and like many quick methods, it doesn’t tend to produce the results you initially wanted. So, what can you do to keep your business free of astroturfing and the inevitable bad press and scandals it can lead to?

Great question! Here are some foolproof solutions to implement.

Build authentic engagement

Generating a real connection with your audience is the difference between your business and one that uses astroturfing to get ahead.

You can’t connect with your audience until you understand them, so ensure that audience research is a component of your plan. Once you’ve done that, segment your customers into fine groups according to their demographics, geographics, and psychographics.

Build customer avatars accounting for their needs and pain points, then tailor your marketing messages through email, advertisements, and social media. Once you convert customers, maintain your relationship with them to keep them engaged and interested in buying.

Prioritize transparency and trust

How do you build trust? And how do you keep it? It comes down to two values: honesty and transparency.

You must prioritize honesty in everything you do, never intentionally lying to or misleading your audience. If you mess up, which can happen, you need to be willing to be upfront about it.

Your business must be transparent about the partners you do business with, including third parties like influencers and/or content creators.

Monitor and respond

Using the tools I recommended above will put you ahead of the curve, as you can detect instances of astroturfing as they happen. If you spot any such activities, you need to respond immediately, not two days from now, not next week, but right away.

Astroturfing “campaigns,” if you will, can spread quickly, especially due to a concerted effort of a few. It would be best if you were ready to stamp it out fast. Think of it like an insect infestation. The faster you treat it, the smaller the infestation will be.

Future Trends in Astroturfing

As tech and the internet continue to get smarter, so does astroturfing. It’s the only way to keep up. That’s why I thought it wise to discuss some tactics and trends you should be on top of.

The role of AI

Astroturfing will get a lot easier as AI’s value is realized. AI can send emails, schedule social media posts, and write content with slight variations to make reviews seem like they’re from different parties.

In short, it can be a huge assistant to astroturfing, expediting the time, money, and energy needed to pull off a faux grassroots campaign. It’s worth paying attention to.

Regulatory changes

While there are regulations against astroturfing, they haven’t been enforced as well as they could be. If it becomes a bigger problem, I could see various regulatory agencies worldwide introducing more stringent rules with bigger consequences for violations.

Conclusion

Astroturfing is an unethical business practice that wrecks authenticity through deception. Some businesses intentionally choose to move forward with astroturfing, while others are embroiled in a scheme.

Applying today’s insights to your business practices will help you stay cognizant of astroturfing to protect your reputation.

Be sure to subscribe to EngageBay’s blog for more tips on ethical marketing!

EngageBay is an all-in-one marketing, sales, and customer support software for small businesses, startups, and solopreneurs. You get email marketing, marketing automation, landing page and email templates, segmentation and personalization, sales pipelines, live chat, and more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is astroturfing in marketing?

Astroturfing is when a company misguides its audience to feign a grassroots movement, which they often design, plan, and execute themselves.

2. How can I identify fake reviews?

You can generally tell if a review is fake if it’s:

Written like a lot of the other reviews on the page
Is vague
Has a lot of spelling and grammar errors
Uses generic verbiage that could apply to any review
Talks about other competitors by name
Rates the product five stars but doesn’t explain why

3. Is astroturfing illegal?

It is. Countries like the US, the EU, and Australia have regulations that prohibit instances of astroturfing and can inflict fines on violators.

4. What are the ethical implications of astroturfing?

Ethically, astroturfing degrades communication between businesses and consumers. Most consumers already don’t trust businesses nearly as much as the average company believes they do. Astroturfing only wrecks that relationship further.

Can astroturfing have long-term negative effects on my business?

Oh, absolutely! Astroturfing can cause reputational damage, affect the quality and number of leads, reduce conversions, and cause a proliferation of negative reviews. Those things don’t disappear overnight.

5. How do I report astroturfing activities?

In the US, you can connect with the FTC via its social media or website to report any perceived instances of astroturfing.

6. What are some tools to detect astroturfing?

You can rely on tools like Hoaxy, Botometer, and CrowdTangle to gain more insights into astroturfing.

7. Are there any notable examples of companies caught astroturfing?

Plenty! McDonald’s Osaka, a Japanese restaurant, is a great example. They hired 1,000 employees to stand in line for the new Quarter Pounder and generate interest, but they were later caught and fessed up.

8. How does astroturfing affect consumer trust?

Consumers will feel even less that they can trust companies, which may influence their willingness to buy products and services in the future.