A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as
intelligence agencies,
organized crime
Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...
groups,
terrorist organizations,
secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups,
advocacy groups, or
corporation
A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...
s. Front organizations can act for the parent group without the actions being attributed to the parent group, thereby allowing them to hide certain activities from the authorities or the public.
Front organizations that appear to be independent
voluntary association
A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body (or organization) to a ...
s or
charitable organization
A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good).
The legal definitio ...
s are called front groups. In the business world, front organizations such as front companies or
shell corporations are used to shield the
parent company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...
from legal liability. In
international relations, a
puppet state
A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its ord ...
is a
state which acts as a front (or surrogate) for another state.
Intelligence agencies
Intelligence agencies use front organizations to provide "cover", plausible occupations and means of income, for their covert agents. These may include legitimate organizations, such as charity, religious or journalism organizations; or "
brass plate firms" which exist solely to provide a plausible background story, occupation, and means of income.
Brewster Jennings & Associates was a front company set up in 1994 by the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a cover for its officers.
The airline
Air America, an outgrowth of
Civil Air Transport of the 1940s, and
Southern Air Transport, ostensibly a civilian air charter company, were operated and wholly owned by the
CIA, supposedly to provide
humanitarian aid, but flew many combat support missions and supplied
covert operation
A covert operation or undercover operation is a military or police operation involving a covert agent or troops acting under an assumed cover to conceal the identity of the party responsible.
US law
Under US law, the Central Intelligence A ...
s in
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
during the
Vietnam War. Other CIA-funded front groups have been used to spread American
propaganda and influence during the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, particularly in the
Third World.
When intelligence agencies work through legitimate organizations, it can cause problems and increased risk for the workers of those organizations. To prevent this, the CIA has had a 20-year policy (since 1976, per US Government sources) of not using
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...
members or US journalists for intelligence purposes.
Another airline allegedly involved in intelligence operations was Russian
Aeroflot that worked in a close coordination with
KGB,
SVR and
GRU.
[Alexander Kouzminov ''Biological Espionage: Special Operations of the Soviet and Russian Foreign Intelligence Services in the West'', Greenhill Books, 2006, ] The company conducted forcible "evacuations" of Soviet citizens from foreign countries back to the USSR. People whose loyalty was questioned were drugged and delivered unconscious by Aeroflot planes, assisted by the company KGB personnel, according to former GRU officer
Victor Suvorov. In the 1980s and 1990s, specimens of deadly bacteria and viruses stolen from Western laboratories were delivered by Aeroflot to support the
Russian program of biological weapons. This delivery channel encoded VOLNA ("wave") meant "delivering the material via an international flight of the Aeroflot airline in the pilots' cabin, where one of the pilots was a KGB officer".
At least two SVR agents died, presumably from the transported pathogens.
When businessman
Nikolai Glushkov was appointed as a top manager of Aeroflot in 1996, he found that the airline company worked as a "
cash cow to support international spying operations" according to
Alex Goldfarb:
[ Alex Goldfarb, with Marina Litvinenko '' Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB'', The Free Press, 2007, ] 3,000 people out of the total workforce of 14,000 in Aeroflot were
FSB, SVR, or GRU officers. All proceeds from ticket sales were distributed to 352 foreign bank accounts that could not be controlled by the Aeroflot administration. Glushkov closed all these accounts and channeled the money to an accounting center called Andava in
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.
He also sent a bill and wrote a letter to SVR director
Yevgeni Primakov and FSB director
Mikhail Barsukov asking them to pay salaries of their intelligence officers in Aeroflot in 1996.
Glushkov was imprisoned in 2000 on charges of illegally channeling money through Andava. Since 2004 the company is controlled by
Viktor Ivanov, a high-ranking FSB official who is a close associate of
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
.
Law enforcement
The
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
has acknowledged using at least thirteen front companies to conceal their use of aircraft to observe criminal activity in the United States, including:
* KQM Aviation
* NBR Aviation
* NG Research
* PXW Services
* FVX Research
Organized crime

Many
organized crime operations have substantial legitimate businesses, such as licensed
gambling
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...
houses, building construction companies, hair salons and karaoke bars, engineering firms, restaurants and bars, billiard clubs, trash hauling services, or dock loading enterprises. These front companies enable these criminal organizations to
launder their income from illegal activities. As well, the front companies provide plausible cover for illegal activities such as
illegal gambling,
extortion,
drug trafficking,
smuggling, and
prostitution.
Tattoo parlors are often used as fronts for
outlaw motorcycle club
An outlaw motorcycle club, known colloquially as a biker club or club (in Australia), is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of Cruiser (motorcycle), cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and chopper (motorcycle ...
s.
Where
brothels are illegal, criminal organizations set up front companies providing services such as a "
massage parlor" or "sauna" to the point that "massage parlor" or "sauna" is thought as a synonym of
brothel in these countries.
Examples
A Colombian drug cartel, the
Cali Cartel, in the past used Drogas La Rebaja, now a large national pharmacy store chain, as a front company in order to launder their drug trafficking earnings.
The General Manager of the Pharaoh's Gentlemen's Club in
Cheektowaga, New York, is the international leader of the
Outlaws Motorcycle Club: John Ermin. Many Outlaws MC members also work at the club. Authorities have referred to Pharaoh's as a hot spot for drug dealing and sex trafficking. The club's owner is Peter G. Gerace Jr., the nephew of reputed
Buffalo crime family boss Joseph A. Todaro Jr. The Outlaws Motorcycle Club, themselves, have been designated by federal law enforcement as a criminal enterprise.
In the early 2000s, the
Black Mafia Family established the Atlanta-based
record label BMF Entertainment as a front company to launder funds that were generated from the sale of
cocaine.
The boxing management company
MTK Global is owned by the reputed Irish gang boss
Daniel Kinahan. Heredia Boxing Management alleges that MTK Global was established as a front company to launder funds made from drug trafficking.
During the year of 2019,
ACT Police shut down the Lakeside Tattoo Parlour in
Belconnen
Belconnen () is a Lands administrative divisions of Australia#Australian Capital Territory, district in the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. The district is subdivided into 27 divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. As at the , the ...
on the grounds of it being allegedly used to launder cash for the notorious outlaw motorcycle gang,
Comanchero Motorcycle Club. The money laundered through the tattoo parlor allegedly came from the club's
drug trafficking operations.
Religion
Scientology
The
Church of Scientology uses front groups either to promote its interests in politics, to make its group seem more legitimate, and to recruit.
The
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
's July 8, 1977 raids on the Church's offices (following discovery of the Church's
Operation Snow White) turned up, among other documents, an undated memo entitled "PR General Categories of Data Needing Coding". This memo listed what it called "Secret PR Front Groups," which included the group APRL, "Alliance for the Preservation of Religious Liberty" (later renamed "Americans Preserving Religious Liberty").
The
Cult Awareness Network (CAN) is considered by many to now be a front group for the Church of Scientology, which took the group over financially after bankrupting it in a series of lawsuits.
''Time'' identified several other fronts for Scientology, including: the
Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR),
The Way to Happiness Foundation,
Applied Scholastics, the
Concerned Businessmen's Association of America, and
HealthMed Clinic. Seven years later the ''
Boston Herald'' showed how
Narconon and
World Literacy Crusade were also fronts for Scientology.
Other Scientology groups include
Downtown Medical,
Criminon and the
Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE).
Unification Church
Politics
In politics, a group may be called a front organization if it is perceived to be disingenuous in its control or goals or if it attempts to mask extremist views within a supposedly more moderate group. Some special interest groups engage in
astroturfing
Astroturfing is the deceptive practice of hiding the Sponsor (commercial), sponsors of an orchestrated message or organization (e.g., political, economic, advertising, religious, or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from ...
, an attempt to mask lobbying as a
grassroots movement.
Apartheid government fronts
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
's
apartheid-era government used numerous front organizations to influence world opinion and to undertake
extra-judicial activities and the killing of anti-apartheid activists; these included the following:
*''
The Citizen'' – funded secretly by the government and was intended to challenge the liberal ''
Rand Daily Mail'', contributing to the political ruin of
John Vorster and
Connie Mulder
*
Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB) – a covert, special forces organization that harassed, seriously injured, and eliminated anti-apartheid activists
*
Federal Independent Democratic Alliance (FIDA) – a conservative black group.
*
International Freedom Foundation – Washington-based mechanism to combat sanctions and support
Jonas Savimbi and
UNITA
*
Jeugkrag – or Youth for South Africa, led by
Marthinus van Schalkwyk as a short-lived Afrikaner youth group, surreptitiously funded by the Military Intelligence's Project Essay
*National Student Federation (NSF) – led by
Russell Crystal, intended to challenge
NUSAS
*
Roodeplaat Research Laboratories – Led by
Daan Goosen, the main research facility of
Project Coast
*
Taussig Familienstiftung, or Taussig Family Trust - a
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...
conduit for secret government transactions
*Veterans for Victory – consisting of
national servicemen, a countermeasure to the
End Conscription Campaign, which was allied to the
United Democratic Front (UDF)
Communist fronts
Communist parties (especially
Marxist-Leninist ones) have sometimes used front organizations to attract support from those (sometimes called "
fellow travellers") who do not fully agree with the party's ideology but agree with certain aspects of it. The front organization often obscures its provenance and may often be a tool for recruitment. Other
Marxists often describe front organizations as
opportunist. The concept of a front organization should be distinguished from the
united front (a
coalition of
working class or
socialist parties) and the
popular front. Both the united front and the popular front usually disclose the groups that make up their coalitions.
United States
According to a list prepared in 1955 by the United States
Senate Internal Security Subcommittee
The United States Senate's Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951–77, known more commonly as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) and sometimes the M ...
, the
Comintern set up no less than 82 front organizations in the United States in the 1930s and the 1940s.
[Richard Felix Staar, ]
Foreign policies of the Soviet Union
', Hoover Press, 1991, , p.79, p.84
Soviet intelligence
infiltrated many peace movements in the West. In addition to the
World Peace Council, important communist front organizations included the
World Federation of Trade Unions, the
World Federation of Democratic Youth, and the
International Union of Students.
[Richard Felix Staar, ]
Foreign policies of the Soviet Union
', Hoover Press, 1991, , p.84 Richard Felix Staar has also suggested that these organizations were somewhat less important front organizations:
Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation,
Christian Peace Conference,
International Association of Democratic Lawyers,
International Federation of Resistance Movements,
International Institute for Peace,
International Organization of Journalists,
Women's International Democratic Federation, and
World Federation of Scientific Workers.
[Richard Felix Staar, ]
Foreign policies of the Soviet Union
', Hoover Press, 1991, , p.80-81 There were also numerous smaller organizations, affiliated with the above fronts such as
Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.
[Richard Felix Staar, ]
Foreign policies of the Soviet Union
', Hoover Press, 1991, , p.82-83[Richard Felix Staar, ]
Foreign policies of the Soviet Union
', Hoover Press, 1991, , p.86 Numerous peace conferences, congresses and festivals have been staged with support of those organizations.
[Richard Felix Staar, ]
Foreign policies of the Soviet Union
', Hoover Press, 1991, , p.85
More recently, the
Workers' World Party (WWP) set up an
anti-war front group,
International ANSWER. (ANSWER is no longer closely associated with WWP; it is closely associated with a WWP splinter, the
Party for Socialism and Liberation, but PSL plays a more open role in the organization.) Similarly,
Unite Against Fascism, the
Anti-Nazi League, the
Stop the War Coalition and
Respect – The Unity Coalition are all criticised as being fronts for the
Trotskyist
Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...
Socialist Workers Party (UK).
Russia
In April 1991, the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...
leadership and the
KGB created a puppet political party in Russia, the
Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union (LDPSU), which became the second officially-registered party in the country.
According to KGB General
Philipp Bobkov, it was a "
Zubatov's pseudo-party under KGB control that directs interests and sentiments of certain social groups".
[ Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev ''Time of darkness'', Moscow, 2003, , page 574 ()] The former
Soviet Politburo member
Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev described in his book how KGB Director
Vladimir Kryuchkov presented the project of the puppet party at a joint meeting with
Mikhail Gorbachev and informed him about a selection of party leaders and the mechanism of funding from Communist Party money.
The book includes an official copy of a document providing the initial Liberal Democratic Party funding (3 million rubles) from the Communist Party's money. The Liberal Democratic leader,
Vladimir Zhirinovsky
Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky (, , né Eidelstein, ; 25 April 1946 – 6 April 2022) was a Russian right-wing populist politician and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) from its creation in 1992 until his death in 20 ...
, proved to be an effective media performer
and gained 8% of votes during the
1991 presidential elections.
He also supported the
August 1991 coup attempt.
China
The
united front is a political strategy and network of groups and key individuals that are influenced or controlled by the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and used to advance its interests. It has traditionally been a
popular front that has included eight
legally permitted political parties: the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the
All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, the
China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the
All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, and other
people's organizations. Under
Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, the united front and its targets of influence have expanded in size and scope. The united front is managed primarily by but is not limited to the
United Front Work Department (UFWD).
Other
An
anti-Islamist feminist group in the
Muslim world
The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...
has also been accused of being a front organization. The
Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq has been accused of being a front for the
Worker-Communist Party of Iraq.
Other
United States
Historian Matthew Dallek writes that the
John Birch Society's (JBS) pioneering use of front organizations starting in the late 1950s helped spread far-right issues outside of the JBS and into broader public discourse and that it "became a template for conservative advocacy for decades to come."
In 2014,
Andrew Cuomo established a front political party, the
Women's Equality Party. The party was established to take advantage of
electoral fusion laws in
New York State that allow candidates to run on multiple ballot lines and to count all of their votes together. Critics of the party and of Cuomo have noted that there is an inherent level of deception involved in the party, as Cuomo is not a woman, the party has not favored women in its endorsement policies, and Cuomo's gubernatorial campaign fund is the primary source of revenue for the party's operations.
Banned paramilitary organizations
Banned paramilitary organizations sometimes use front groups to achieve a public face with which to raise funds, negotiate with opposition parties, recruit, and spread propaganda. For example, banned
paramilitary
A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934.
Overview
Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...
organizations often have an affiliated
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
that operates more openly, but those parties themselves often end up being banned. The parties may or may not be front organizations in the narrow sense (they have varying degrees of autonomy, and the relationships are usually something of an
open secret) but are widely considered to be so, especially by their political opponents.
Examples are the relationship between the
Provisional IRA and
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...
in 1980s
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
or between the
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
groups
ETA (paramilitary) and
Batasuna (party) in
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
. Similarly, in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, when the
Communist Party USA was highly stigmatized, it often operated largely through front groups. In addition, the Provisional IRA also operated a
vigilante front group,
Direct Action Against Drugs.
Both Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries in Ireland during
the Troubles
The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
used cover names when they carried out sectarian attacks against civilians.
Republican groups like the Provisional IRA and the
Irish National Liberation Army used front names like the
South Armagh Republican Action Force,
Catholic Reaction Force and the People's Republican Army to claim responsibility for attacks on civilians,
Loyalists like the
Ulster Volunteer Force and the
Ulster Defense Association used various front names such as the
Protestant Action Force,
Ulster Freedom Fighters and
Red Hand Defenders when they carried out attacks against civilians, most of which were aimed at Catholic civilians.
During the
Weimar Republic in Germany, the anti-Semitic and nationalist
Organisation Consul reportedly had a front company named the Bavarian Wood Products Company.
Corporate front organizations
Corporations from a wide variety of different industries, such as food, pharmaceutical and energy, set up front groups to advocate on their behalf.
Some pharmaceutical companies set up "patients' groups" as front organizations that pressure healthcare providers and legislators to adopt their products. For example,
Biogen set up a campaign called ''Action for Access'', which also claimed it was an independent organization and the voice of
multiple sclerosis sufferers. People who visited the website and signed up for the campaign did not realise that these were not genuinely independent patient groups.
Over the past 15 years, increasing concerns about
obesity
Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, in which excess Adipose tissue, body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classifi ...
have caused
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
to experience pressure from social movement activists to reduce the sugar content in its drinks. Although Coca-Cola has publicly promoted consumer engagement in healthy lifestyles with its campaigns such as '
Coming Together', activists have also exposed that Coca-Cola has secretly funded
front groups or organizations that criticize social movement activists and legitimize controversial corporate activities. The
Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) and
Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN) are two main groups that engage activists on behalf of Coca-Cola even though they were not intended to be publicly associated with Coca-Cola as a corporation. Research has revealed that the CCF, with a mission to "promote responsibility and protect
consumer choices", uses both verbal and visual strategies to articulate obesity as "personal responsibility" to protect the industry from corporate responsibility.
Tobacco companies frequently use front organizations and doctors to advocate their arguments about tobacco use although less openly and obviously than in the 1980s. The
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
has charged that the tobacco industry funded seemingly-unbiased scientific organizations to undermine tobacco control measures and cited the
International Life Sciences Institute in particular. Another way to combat public health measures against tobacco is to use lobbying and campaign contributions. For example,
RJ Reynolds, the current second-largest tobacco company in the United States, created a front group named Get Government Off Our Back ("GGOOB") in 1994 to fight federal regulation of tobacco. By hiding its involvement with tobacco industry, GGOOB avoided the tobacco industry reputation for misrepresenting evidence and drew big supports from both public and legislative aspects, successfully resolving the threats from wide-reaching tobacco regulations.
A list of some alleged corporate front groups active in the US is maintained by the
Multinational Monitor. Some
think tank
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
s are corporate front groups. These organizations present themselves as research organizations, using phrases such as "...Institute for Research" in their names. Because their names suggest neutrality, they can present the commercial strategies of the corporations which sponsor them in a way which appears to be objective
sociological or
economical research rather than political lobbying.
Similarly the
Center for Regulatory Effectiveness has been criticised as a front organization for various industry bodies which seek to undermine regulation of their environmentally damaging activities under the guise of 'regulatory effectiveness'.
Astroturfing
''Astroturfing'', a wordplay based on "
grassroots
A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...
" efforts, is an American term used pejoratively to describe formal
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
projects which try to create the impression of a groundswell of spontaneous popular response to a politician, product, service, or event. Corporations have been known to "astroturf", but are not the only entities alleged to have done so. In recent years, organizations of plaintiffs' attorneys have established front groups such as
Victims and Families United to oppose
tort reform.
Astroturf in the liability wars
PointofLaw.com (sponsored by the Manhattan Institute and American Enterprise Institute), July 1, 2005
See also
References
External links
Front groups
at SourceWatch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Front Organization
Espionage techniques
Types of organization
Secrecy
Deception