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For readers not at all familiar with American idioms, "astroturfed" is a response to "grassroots". A "grassroots" movement in American slang is one that is bott
by stinkytaco 4y ago
For readers not at all familiar with American idioms, "astroturfed" is a response to "grassroots". A "grassroots" movement in American slang is one that is bottom up and not driven by advertising, corporations or political parties. Astroturfing gives the appearance of being grassroots when it is not.
- kevinmgranger 4y agoLived all my life in America and never made that connection. Whaddya know!
- kens 4y agoI should have known that :-) I was curious, so I looked into this a bit more. Monsanto advertised Astroturf in 1971 with the slogan "The new grass-roots movement. It's away from grass, to Astroturf." In the 1980s, grass-roots vs Astroturf started to be used as a political metaphor by people such as Bob Dole and Lloyd Bentsen, and then became a popular media expression in the 1990s. So ironically, the metaphorical use of "astroturf" was originally driven by advertising.