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!

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