Livingston

Oct
06
2008

Blue Astroturf

large_New-Courts4-30Jan08_8

Yes, we all hate these ethical transgressions.  Social media is supposed to be a game changer, a creator of forthright relational discussions between two parties, not another communications tool set to manipulate people with.. Yet, unethical communicators from all sides of the aisle can’t seem to help themselves, as demonstrated by one Democratic state senatorial candidate in Nevada.

The story goes something like this… After Democratic Challenger Allison Copening failed at the first debate (both Democrats and Republicans called it a failure), the Nevada State Democratic Party dumped what rumored to be $1 million smear campaign against Sen. Bob Beers. As part of the effort, this "anonymous blog" appeared, dubbed  The Real Beers.  Dig into the blog and you will see:

1. While it does carry the Nevada State Democratic Party name, there is single person to hold accountable.

2. The comments are filtered to prohibit any pro Bob Beers messages.

3. The comments that have been allowed are written by the agency that produced it, with the exception of one.

4. The people in the video are staged (more coming later).

5. The stories, quotes, etc. are all half-truths, fabrications, spin, and lies. Most of these are addressed by the Beers campaign.

Funniest yet, the YouTube video includes people who are not residents. It is verifiable because, especially the testimony on the end. from a person identifies himself as a resident, but appears to be the same person on a hip hop forum maintained by the agency of record who built the site, the Drex Agency. Classy folks, there at Drex.   Drex busted itself when it accidently put up a template of the entire blog in their public work files. The work files were scanned and cached. Drex is sending mailers to local citizens to drive them to the web site, too. Gotta love an integrated campaign.

While the social media communications echo chamber hasn’t picked up on this nasty astroturfing incident, the local bloggers and media have.  The Las Vegas Sun goes so far as to say:

This kind of assault, no matter how little it is grounded in reality, can work.

Look, this company does not have a formal political agenda. But if I did force one upon my employees, it would be Democratic, as evidenced by my blatant support of Obama in recent weeks. I don’t care what party, company or organization you work for, astroturfing is a dirty nasty practice that should result in offending parties losing their jobs.  It’s flat out wrong. And it flies in the face of everything so many of us have tried to build out here, beginning with the timeless Cluetrain Manifesto,whose words, "There is no market for messages," still rings true to this day.

If we as a group of communications don’t call out transgressions like the Copening campaign’s smeer effort with its fake grassroots effort, who will?  Stop astroturfing now!

 

Related Posts:

  • Astroturfing in the District of Corruption
  • Astroturfing Shelfari
  • Astroturfing on the Dark Side of the Moon

    • Tags: , , , , ,

    AddThis Social Bookmark Button
    by Geoff Livingston | Geoff, Internet Marketing |

    10 Responses to “Blue Astroturf”

    • Political Communication: Is Surrogate Messaging Ethical? // Blog Straight Talk // Groups // BlogCatalog Says:

      October 6th, 2008 at 11:55 am

      Kramer auto Pingback[...] at every level. Geoff Livingston recently covered one example occurring here in my home state. http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/2008/10/06/blue-astroturf/ My questions: Is it ethical? Does it influence you? What can be done about [...]

    • Ike Says:

      October 6th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

      “Social Media Astroturf” is going to get far, far worse, my friend. It’s cheap, it’s easy, and it’s easy to manufacture people that don’t yet exist.

      (I’m glad I read this, even though it isn’t about the home field of my beloved Boise State Broncos…)

    • Teaching PR: The Week's Best, 6 October 2008 Says:

      October 6th, 2008 at 6:49 pm

      Kramer auto Pingback[...] Blue Astroturf, Geoff Livingston [...]

    • Are we destined to repeat past PR mistakes? « PR Campaigns - The blog Says:

      October 6th, 2008 at 8:33 pm

      Kramer auto Pingback[...] this same topic, here’s a recent example: “Blue Astroturf,” the case of a political smear campaign in state-wide [...]

    • Justin Thorp Says:

      October 6th, 2008 at 11:55 pm

      Yeah… I think about all we can do in situations like this is just call out the folks that use social media for shady practices with the hope that it will deter others from following suit. Don’t know what else we can do.

      The Web is one big community. The community needs to police itself against actions which may be deemed detrimental to the community.

      Kind of related… in my many travels, I’ve talked to folks who work at PR agencies who actually write blog posts for company blogs. The PR agency employees pawn themselves off as working at the company or being an employee that they’re not. Do you find that to cross a similar ethical boundary?

    • Kim Says:

      October 7th, 2008 at 2:06 am

      When a candidate sends out blatantly false mailers, an ethics complaint can be filed (for what it is worth). But when a third party (in this case the sad sacks at the Nevada State Democratic Party) does it for a candidate, there’s nothing that can be done.

      I guess if they can’t challenge Beers on the issues, a smear campaign will have to suffice. And sadly the people of Nevada stand to be the losers if they fall for it.

      Let them say what they will about Beers, but better to be a smart bald guy than a shell of a woman with an ugly mullet. :)

    • Bob Beers’ Blog » Blog Archive » We Made The Big Time Says:

      October 8th, 2008 at 9:28 pm

      [...] Check it out here. [...]

    • Bob Conrad Says:

      October 8th, 2008 at 11:14 pm

      Thanks for picking up on this. Regardless of which side of the fence this kind of transgression comes from, it doesn’t mean it isn’t unethical. And this is not the first from Nevada dems recently (not that certain Nev. conservatives don’t jump into this kind of fray regularly either).

    • patte purcell Says:

      October 11th, 2008 at 12:16 pm

      As a friend and supporter of Bob Beers, I am sickened by this.
      He is a good honest servant of the people. This woman is scum,
      anyone who thinks that a Democratically controlled government
      is going to somehow bring out the best in people should look in the mirror.
      SHAME ON YOU, COPENING!

    • Art Dixon Says:

      October 12th, 2008 at 7:15 am

      I will still vote for Bob Beers despite the lies from COPENING !

    Leave a Reply