Lobbying, deception and political public relations: when grassroots become astroturf

In recent years, a new term has appeared in the already prolific EU jargon: “Astroturfing”. This obscure concept refers to a communication strategy whose true source is hidden and that pretends to emanate from the citizens (Boulay, 2012). The term was first coined by US Senator Lord Bentsen in 1985 when describing a public relations campaign financed by a big corporation and aiming at swaying public opinion by pretending to be a grassroots movement. This phenomenon is named after the brand Astroturf©, which produces synthetic grass used mainly on sport fields. An American invention, astroturf cases are increasingly appearing in Europe and can take different forms, such as front groups, fake reviews or fake followers on Twitter. Those cases are mainly denounced by journalists or by watchdog NGOs willing to denounce the influence of corporate power on the decision-making process of the EU. Even though this communication technique can be used for several purposes (marketing, PR, IT), our research will primarily focus on a lobbying viewpoint. We are thus interested in studying how the astroturfing phenomenon emerged in the peculiar structure that is the EU and how it might undermine real grassroots efforts, supposedly representing the interests of concerned citizens on public matters, and not corporate and financial interests in disguise.