Communicators have increasingly turned to grassroots programs to engage and activate stakeholders over the past two years, as policymakers in Washington assess issues ranging from healthcare reform to climate change.
Yet as the volume of grassroots programs has increased, so have criticisms and allegations of so-called "astroturfing," which means passing off formally planned PR or communications campaigns as spontaneous, grassroots, populist activity. Some public affairs professionals agree the definition of astroturfing has changed in recent years, shifting from a description ...