10 Fake Grassroots Movements Started By

Corporations To Sway Your Opinion

Eric Goldschein
Sep. 30,2011, 4:26 PM

taberandrew via
flickrGrassroots movements are so powerful because they reflect the will of the people.
There's no filter, and no ulterior motive: just a natural, independent effort to force change.

In the last few years, politicians and businessmen have recognized this, and have tried to
harness that power by any means — even if it's fabricated.

"Astroturfing," first coined by U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas in 1985, is when
companies or even individuals mask their motives by putting it under the guise of a
grassroots movement.

Whether by using misinformation or literally paying people to buy their hamburgers,

astroturfing is used to generate publicity and sway public opinion, all while the people
orchestrating the movement act like they had nothing to do with it.

Exxon Mobil was behind a YouTube video spoofing Al

Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth"
 Flickr - nyc dreamer
The release of Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" in 2006 was followed by
outpourings of either support or criticism, depending on which side of the global warming
theory one chose to take. One man apparently felt so strongly that Gore's view was wrong
-- but more importantly, boring -- that he created a video on YouTube called "Al Gore's
Penguin Army," spoofing the ideas set forth by the film and portraying Gore as some sort of
Batman villain.

But was this, in fact, the work of a 29-year-old from Beverly Hills, as his profile states? The
Wall Street Journal discovered that the video -- which was the first sponsored clip on
Google the same day as the movie's release -- could be traced back to DCI Group, a public
relations and lobbying firm employed by Exxon Mobil.

When asked about the video at the time, an Exxon spokesman said, "We, like everyone else
on the planet, have seen it, but did not fund it, did not approve it, and did not know what
its source was." As of today, the video has just over 623,000 views.

Lobbyist firm Bonner & Associates was caught pretending

to be the NAACP in an effort to derail the American Clean
Energy and Security Act
 Flickr - herald post
The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 was meant to curb greenhouse gas
emissions, which apparently didn't sit too well with opponents of climate change. Rep. Tom
Perriello (D-VA) received letters from both the NAACP and the Hispanic non-profit
Creciendo Juntos, asking him to vote against the bill for economic reasons.

It turned out that the lobbyist firm Bonner & Associates, which has a history of astroturfing
and defrauding the government, had fabricated the letters, from the letterhead to the
signatures. The very similar looking letters can still be found online.

The NAACP released a statement denouncing the stunt as "exploiting the African-American
Community to achieve their misdirected goal... to deceive Congress." B&A, on the other
hand, blamed the forgery on a "temporary employee."

Stop Too Big To Fail was a misleading campaign meant to

kill financial reform -- and headed up by a known
astroturfing firm
Stop Too Big To Fail billed itself as a "movement" when it first came out against bank
bailouts in 2010. In fact, it was much more: a $1.6 million ad campaign, a series of blog
posts, television spots -- complete with out-of-context quotes -- constructed to help kill
financial reform.

The well-known astroturfing group Consumers for Competitive Choice was behind the ads,
which basically repeated Republican rhetoric and used tactics such as quoting a supporter
of the bank bailouts -- former Labor Secretary Robert Reich -- simply detailing the
opposition's position and using it as proof that Reich was actually behind Stop Too Big To
Fail. Much of the "movement" was filled with misleading language.

The Alliance of Australian Retailers was against

repackaging cigarettes with health warnings -- which makes
sense, considering they were created by Philip Morris

taberandrew via flickr

The 2010 Australian Federal Election featured a controversial piece of proposed legislation.
Australia was looking to become the first country with "plain cigarette packaging": logos,
brands and ads would be replaced by health warnings, pictures, and the brand name in
plain, white type on the pack.

In response, the Alliance of Australian Retailers was formed to fight on behalf of small
businesses who could be hurt by the law. The group of 19,000 members representing
corner stores, petrol stations, and newsagents had millions of dollars in support -- because
Big Tobacco companies like Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and
Imperial Tobacco were financing the AAR.

When the Big Tobacco companies were revealed as backers of the AAR, retailers quit the
campaign, forcing Philip Morris to hire a public relations company to handle the fight.

The communications team for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford

created a fake Twitter account to support his policies

Flickr - Shaun Merritt

@QueensQuayKaren was like any other Twitter user. She posted her views on Toronto
politics and proved surprisingly open-minded about Rob Ford, the candidate opposing her
choice for mayor, George Smitherman. In the later days of the campaign, Karen Philby
seemed increasingly swayed by Ford's policies. By the end, Karen was convinced of Ford's
superiority over her original choice.

After Ford took the election, it was revealed that Karen Philby was actually Ford's deputy
communications director Fraser Macdonald. The account was originally created to trick the
Toronto Star into handing over a copy of a phone recording where Ford promised to get
Oxycontin for a man with HIV and fibromyalgia. That done, Karen went on to tout Ford's
ability to "speak the truth."

The account is still online, as a testament to the social media prowess of the Ford team --
manipulation of the public who voted for Ford be damned.
McDonald's paid people to get in line for a Quarter Pounder
burger in Japan

http://
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/McDonald
%27s_Himeji_Miyukidoori.jpg/800px-McDonald%27s_Himeji_Miyukidoori.jpg
The release of the Quarter Pounder in Japan was a pretty big deal, judging by the size of
the crowds. In fact, it was a record-setting day for the McDonald's in Osaka.

As it turns out, McDonalds had recruited 1,000 part-time employees to line up -- starting at
midnight before the store even opened -- and generate buzz for the burger. The
"customers" were paid for their time and had their meal compensated. McDonalds
admitted to the ploy, but said it was part of a "customer feedback" for "market research."

The employees were paid roughly $11 bucks an hour for their work.