astroturf
Fake grassroots activism
Astroturf in its generic sense refers to any artificial grass surface, or metaphorically to fake grassroots movements—political campaigns or advocacy that appear to arise spontaneously from ordinary citizens but are actually orchestrated and funded by corporations, political groups, or wealthy interests.
The verb means to create such deceptive campaigns: The pharmaceutical company astroturfed opposition to the bill. (Capitalized AstroTurf is the brand name.)
Common people as political base
- lobbyingAdvocating to decision-makers
- sockpuppetFake identity for deception
- shillFraudster's fake customer
- propagandaBiased information for influence
disinformation · manipulation · covert · inauthentic · fabricated · stealth · engineered · orchestrated
grassroots
Common people as political base
- lobbyingAdvocating to decision-makers
- sockpuppetFake identity for deception
- shillFraudster's fake customer
propaganda · disinformation · manipulation · covert · inauthentic · fabricated · stealth · engineered · orchestrated · deceptive
- campaigningcandidate, campaign signs, canvassing, campaign manager, fundraising
- mini golfputter, golf ball, hole, putt, putting green
- advocacy groupsadvocacy group, lobbying groups, lobby group, NAACP, lobby groups
- campaign jargonstump speech, talking points, sound bites, soundbite, soundbites
- political jargonfilibuster, gerrymandering, caucus, pork barrel, lame duck
- propagandapropaganda, brainwashing, disinformation, misinformation, indoctrination
astroturfgrassroots
Common people as political base
organic movement · groundswell · popular uprising · true believers · word-of-mouth