PR, Advertising, Astroturfing and Propaganda

[izabsmiling]

Environment editor Sandi Keane exposes the shadowy world of PR, where astroturfing and propaganda is used to coerce the public into sacrificing their own interests for those of big corporations.

. Experienced PR practitioners now coerce you through astroturfing and other socially engineered forms of brainwashing to sacrifice your interests for those of their clients – especially those with the biggest war chest – the fossil fuel industry.

Indeed, it was the rise of citizens groups in the US opposing action on global warming that ledGreenpeace to discover that these so-called grassroots uprisings were organised and funded by the fossil fuel lobby.

Public opinion is a precious commodity. It’s what elects governments and governments can deliver profit and power to those whose largesse it enjoys.Americans pay more for healthcare than any other Western nation, but the Hands Off My Healthcare campaign duped credulous Americans into believing Obama’s healthcare reform was a socialist plot. It was funded by “free marketeer” mining billionaires — the Koch Brothers.

Today’s PR supremos are making serious money out of commodifying public opinion, manipulating it and touting it to this ready market. PR spin is gradually replacing old fashioned journalism as the number of mainstream journalists dwindles, according to a 2010 report by the Pew Centre of Journalism.

The onslaught of suasion in the last few years has been unrivalled in tricking or swaying people to do the unthinkable:

To put corporate interests before their own!

http://www.independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/deception-is-our-product,3942

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aX2kMAfJggU

Manipulating the mind used to be the weapon of choice of totalitarian regimes. But the last decade has seen an unprecedented rise in corporate funded propaganda in our so-called “beacons of democracy”, USA and Australia.

Modern age PR illusionists, today’s digital age snake oil salesmen, are reeling you in by evermore shameful and unethical means.  They display no regard for possible tragic consequences. The most despicable are the climate skeptic spinmeisters, whose crowning achievement may well be the end of the planet.

Following our last story “Deception is our Product” posted on February 7, Indy Oz has compiled “A Practical Guide to Trickery & Fakery in the Digital Age” to help you sort the shill from the sham and spin from the scam.

In the humbug peddler’s SHAM BAG, you’ll find:

Phony Grassroots Groups or Astroturfers

as well as

Multiple Fake IDs - using Persona Management Software, Avatars, Shills, Sockpuppets, Fake Blogs (Flogs) and Trolls.

Of these, the most effective at manipulating public opinion is the

Phony Grassroots Groups or Astroturfers

http://www.independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/how-to-spot-an-astroturfer-or-an...

[puddleback]

????

[joz*garage]

im not reading all that

[gkam2]

What language was that, was it an extinct dialect of English?

[lakeland27]

very good clear english . not something one comes across often i grant you.

[icyfroth]

Phony Grassroots Groups or Astroturfers

Is that like the grassroots groups that marched in the March march?

[*mrgrizz*]

astroturf goes on cricket pitches

we now have 2  reading the same site......joy

[izabsmiling]

---

@icyfroth wrote:

Phony Grassroots Groups or Astroturfers

Is that like the grassroots groups that marched in the March march?

---

The thing with astroturfers is that they can make really broad false statements with no basis in fact and try to present it as though it is fact.

which of the 100 000+ Australians in the Grass Roots March on March ....were phony ?

[izabsmiling]

I think we really need to keep our thinking caps on 

According to Sydney-based PR strategist, Ravi Prasad, on ABC’s Background Briefing, the public’s loss of appetite for a price on carbon was no accident:

“If you look at the debate around the carbon tax, the debate around mining supertax, and the public debate around asylum seekers, the public debates in these major areas of policy are being shaped in meaningful ways by astroturfing.”

 http://www.independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/deception-is-our-product,3942

[icyfroth]

---

@izabsmiling wrote:

---

@icyfroth wrote:

Phony Grassroots Groups or Astroturfers

Is that like the grassroots groups that marched in the March march?

---

The thing with astroturfers is that they can make really broad false statements with no basis in fact and try to present it as though it is fact.

which of the 100 000+ Australians in the Grass Roots March on March ....were phony ?

---

Well don't ask me, Iza, that's what your OP is saying:

Public opinion is a precious commodity. It’s what elects governments and governments can deliver profit and power to those whose largesse it enjoys.

So no-one in any grass roots group is really "phony", they've just been "influenced". They truly believe in their cause, just that the cause is phony.