What Is Astroturfing? Ethics, Impact, and Examples [Video]

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.