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Glite Dictionary
🏟️ Artificial grass 🎭 Fake support 🌱 To add fake grass
AstroTurf

AstroTurf

5 9.1
A campaign that looks like public support but is paid for by outside groups
  • noun
  • /ˈæstroʊˌtɜrf/
  • Literature
: AstroTurf
  • The political campaign was criticized for being an AstroTurf effort rather than genuine grassroots support.
  • AstroTurf groups

You don't get much more phony than an Astroturf town green.

Examples

  • No doubt it started out as astroturf, then turned into a real grassroots movement.

    Blog text (7)

  • One year ago, Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) waged an astroturf campaign to defeat the hotly contested fracking ban ordinance in Peters Township, PA.

    Blog text (28)

  • There is a reason such efforts are called Astroturf.

    Blog text (7)

  • "Mansfielders for Jobs," front group, leads astroturf charge.

    Blog text (28)

  • Cato is an astroturf organization: there is no significant participation by the tiny libertarian minority.

    Blog text (34)

  • Many social media movements turn out to be AstroTurf campaigns funded by large corporations.

  • The environmental group exposed the AstroTurf tactics used by organizations pretending to advocate for local issues.

Synonyms

propagandism
vsAstroTurf
1 9.0

A practice of spreading biased information to make people accept certain ideas

is a covert campaign pretending to be spontaneous community backing rather than general persuasion
online propaganda campaign
vsAstroTurf
  • Texting
5.6

A planned online effort to spread ideas or false information to change people's opinions

is organized to look like local spontaneous support rather than an open online push

Antonyms

grassroots
89 4.4

Involving ordinary people who support a movement or campaign

How Genuine

grassroots
89 4.4
supported
76 2.0
AstroTurf
  • Literature
5 9.1

Surface Forms

AstroTurf singular
AstroTurfs plural

Morphology

AstroTurf = turf (semi-transparent) = astro + turf

The political sense is a metaphorical extension of artificial turf: support is manufactured to look like it comes naturally from the grassroots.

Etymology

AstroTurf was a brand of fake 'grass', so people started using AstroTurf to name a fake 'grassroots' movement that is actually organized or paid for by outside groups. That's why AstroTurf now means a campaign that looks like real public support but is not.