Say is isn’t so, Hillary Clinton! It looks like you, your staff, and your campaign were caught stealth campaigning — astroturfing — by some folks who decided to do a little bit of Internet forensics. This sort of fisking is the ultimate big trophy hunt. Who would have guessed that a Clinton would be felled so early — not even sporting! Via Wired
Undercover marketing, Stealth marketing – Undercover marketing is a subset of guerrilla marketing where consumers do not realize they are being marketed to.
Stealth campaigning – Undercover campaigning is a subset of political campaigning online where voters do not realize they are being campaigned to.
Astroturfing – In politics and advertising, the term astroturfing describes formal public relations (PR) campaigns which seek to create the impression of being a spontaneous, grassroots behavior. Hence the reference to the “AstroTurf” (artificial grass) is a metaphor to indicate “fake grassroots” support.
Fisking – Fisking, or to Fisk, refers to the act of critiquing, often in minute detail, an article, essay, argument, etc. with the intent of challenging its conclusion or theses by highlighting logical fallacies and incorrect facts.
My advice to the candidates — free from me to you — is simple since I just posted it a couple hours ago on this very blog: Don’t Be Seduced by the Lure of Astroturfing:
“The blowback that can result from using a false name, a false email (a Yahoo, Google, or Hotmail address created for the campaign and the false name), and a false bio, isn’t worth it.”
