Verbal Astroturfing in Taxis

The art of placing comments on sites anonymously by paid commentators is known as astroturfing, which is an artificial grass roots campaign. The term’s origins lie in the US political campaigns but was quickly taken up by marketers and PR companies to spread the word about their product, because they all know word of mouth is one of the most effective means of getting people to consider your product.

A recent example can be found in London taxis, where Taxi Promotions UK, who place ads on taxis, are hiring the drivers to spread the word about visiting the US. Taxi drivers are known for being vocal in their tales, but now they’re getting paid for it.

The article gives the impression that the taxi drivers have actually been to the places they are talking about, which does make it slightly better than some campaigns I’ve seen, where they are just telling the corporate message. Here at least, they are discussing real experiences. In that way, it’s like bloggers talking about products they have received from companies that want them to blog about it. The proof will be in whether they have been told to disclose who paid for the trip; personally, I think they should tell all about that as well as the fun times they had.