Jim Bakken
Peritus
Senior Director, Alabama
This viewpoint was posted as an opinion editorial in Birmingham Business Journal on Friday, July 29, 2011. You can check out the article online here.
With Alabama’s first legislative session under our state’s new ethics laws behind us, corporations, political parties, nonprofits and other politically active groups are left to reflect on the results of their efforts this year and decide how to promote agendas in 2012.
The ethics laws pose considerations not faced during strategy meetings at this time last year, and many organizations will adapt to the changing environment in Montgomery by supplementing traditional lobbying efforts with public campaigns to raise awareness and organize support at the grassroots level. This effective approach gives lawmakers the opportunity to be educated directly by lobbyists, as well as by individual citizens and advocate groups.
Some organizations are deterred from organizing such campaigns, however, out of fear of being characterized as “manufacturing support” in a public policy debate through an “Astroturf” campaign. With the rare exception, claims of sniffing out an “Astroturf” campaign are steeped in misconception and represent a lack of understanding of what goes on in public affairs communications. Fake support is when dead people somehow make it to the ballot box, not when a group that will be affected by a public policy is educated about the issue and the legislative process.
There is a big difference between manufacturing fake support around an issue and organizing supporters into a campaign with a unified and effective voice. Reputable public affairs firms do not spread “Astroturf.” They use public relations and political expertise as fertilizer to grow the real thing, and organizations that conduct campaigns the right way have nothing to worry about. In fact, critics provide sound grassroots campaigns with additional opportunities to share key messages.
People who use the term “Astroturf” seem to think something is inherently wrong with public affairs campaigns. Why? Some of my clients need communications support to market a product or solidify their brand. Others need us to fight for them on an issue – to raise awareness among stakeholders and influence policy that would drastically affect their bottom lines or quality of life.
At the end of the day, there is no difference between the following scenarios:
- Someone buys a product because a television advertisement or message from a friend on Facebook communicates the benefits of that product.
- Someone writes their Congressman about an issue because they learned through an organized public affairs campaign that the outcome would hurt or benefit them.
Both are about sharing the information necessary for someone to make a personal decision about whether or not to act.
One of the first steps in a public affairs campaign is to identify the stakeholders that stand to gain or lose, and raise awareness among them. Campaigns are built around engaging those individuals and organizations. Would you not hate to pick up the paper and read that a vote had come and gone that would make it harder for you to run your business, lowered the property value of your house, made medical care harder to come by, or another unpleasant scenario, and not have known about the vote in time to voice your opinion?
I have reached out to countless individuals and organizations over the years that were passionate about an issue, but they were not aware of an upcoming community meeting or vote in the legislature, or they did not know how to make a difference. Educating those people, and organizing them in an effort that allows them to be heard, is important, and public affairs agencies’ work encourages people to exercise the right to speak their mind.
Those who consider that “Astroturf” should consider how they get information about the products they buy, the politicians they support or even issues debated by their PTA or neighborhood association. Sharing information is a good thing – whether it happens organically at the water cooler or it is part of an organized effort to raise awareness.
