Public Relations and Astroturfing from a relational perspective

The public relations activity is defined as an area of strategic communication which acts on building mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their audiences. Constant social transformations have an impact on the social perception of different themes, which in turn also directly affects the positioning of organizations. In this scenario, we discuss the term "astroturfing" and its similarities and/or differences concerning public relations based on a relational perspective of communication. This article is characterized as an exploratory research based on a bibliographic analysis. The object of study is astroturfing in the context of public relations; therefore, a qualitative approach has been used. We observed that the extreme usage of digital social networks has contributed to numerous scenarios of misinformation which, therefore, end up encouraging deceptive or simulated practices arising from different social institutions. Thus, it is in such a context that the practice of astroturfing can be seen. This practice emerged in the 1980s in the United States during an election campaign in which there were disputes for a favourable public opinion. The term is an analogy to the word "grassroots, that is, how spontaneous popular manifestations are known in the US, and AstroTurf is a brand of artificial grass created by Monsanto in the 1960s, which is famous for its similarity to the appearance of real grass" (Silva, 2013: 14). The phenomenon can be seen as the creation of public manifestations by an audience that does not exist in order to achieve a favourable scenario for organizational objectives. In a practical way, communication processes can act as astroturfing drivers, thus contributing to the emergence of artificial contexts. In this article, we investigate the communication process by reflecting on the importance of the PR professional who looks at the public from a relational perspective. The connection of such a phenomenon with the field of public relations derives from the practices of international agencies that have subtly used astroturfing to achieve the goals of their clients in such a way that organizational ethics committees do not clearly perceive it. This is one of the aspects that leads professionals in the area to question what would or would not be ethical. Public relations, as an expression of strategic communication, has the ability to observe scenarios, mobilize forces and elaborate narratives that enable the construction of an organizational image and reputation. Perhaps an adequate translation of these strategic efforts is to recognize the connections among public relations, its audiences and the public opinion. In this scenario, there are ample information flows from the mediatized context that sometimes can create gaps for the practice of astroturfing. We understand that the phenomenon is consolidated as a contemporary challenge in the market, mainly in communication. Therefore, we highlight on how the ethical dimensions of public relations permeate the purpose of balance and harmony of interests. It is urgent to act, not only for the aesthetics but also for the ethics of the profession, in favour of the strengthening of the subjects and, consequently, the quality of the established social relations.