Blog homeeasyJet, a leading low cost airline, have been accused of astroturfing. (Read full article on The Register)
Astroturfing is a term for formal public relations campaigns in politics and advertising that seek to create the impression of being spontaneous, grassroots behaviour. Hence the reference to AstroTurf (artificial grass) is a metaphor to indicate fake grassroots support.
See full definition from Wikipedia
According to the Register (a UK based IT news website), easyJet sent off their weekly special offer email at 8.30 this morning. Within their email (which I don’t have a copy of), the airline’s CEO Andy Harrison asked their customers to use the charity website WriteToThem.com to write to local members of the UK parliament regarding the taxation changes on APD etc (This website makes the writing to politicians process much more simple for those who are too new fashioned to use pen and paper). This mass campaign was meant to look like spontaneous action from their customers…. who knows.
Apparently this wasn’t seen very kindly by the online charity - as their servers promptly crashed under the strain. The charity has made a statement about this, currently available here. I don’t think they are very happy especially as their website clearly states that they will NOT send any letters that are sent “en masse”.
easyJet spokeswoman Samantha Day told The Register that it was all a “misunderstanding” and pledged to make a contribution to the charity.
As I write now, easyJet are still publishing details of their scheme on their website. Shouldn’t this have been removed by now?
Bit of a PR disaster really….. Email goes out at 8.30 in the morning, by 14.30 the events are picked up the The Register…. and now, a few hours later, here we are.
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