Will corporate-sponsored front groups whither in the Internet-fueled transparency of the information age?
They might, especially if the stealth sponsor companies decide that being “source-outed” is too great a risk to their brand reputations.
That’s the argument made by a study published in February’s Communication Research. University scholars found that socially popular-sounding front groups create a big negative “boomerang effect” when folks realize the hidden and contrary corporate interests behind them.
I have issues with the study’s limited and insular context – the fact that all research subjects were “impressionable students” from intro-level Oklahoma University communications classes doesn’t exactly qualify as a real-world perspective. (It probably doesn’t say much for the future of flackery, either.)
Even so, the study should remind companies that any attempt to covertly influence opinion is only as effective as the reaction people have when they find out who’s behind it and why.
You can download "The Influence of Corporate Front-Group Stealth Campaigns" study here.
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Scatterbox | Being source-outed is becoming the classic PR problem of our age.
Center for Media & Democracy | Tracking the Front Group "Boomerang"
