What exactly do we mean by Astroturfing? Well it isn't that simple. On one hand it could be artificial grass laid down on a sports pitch but there is actually another completely different use of the phrase. You see it is also used to describe the practice of masking the real sponsors of a message. Typically this is seen in fake reviews and the use of sock puppets ( made up on line identities).
Wikipedia traces the term back to the mid 80's:
The term "astroturfing" was first coined in 1985 by then-US Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D–Texas) when he said, "a fellow from Texas can tell the difference between grass roots and AstroTurf... this is generated mail"
I guess that back then , nearly 30 years ago there was quite a debate about the merits of artificial grass and sports pitches. Any sports fan could surely have known the difference. These days we like to think the differences are not so obvious.
Finally this table demonstrates the recent growth in usage of the astroturfing term.
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