Most everyone who regularly reads Library Grape knows what a dim view I have of the median IQ of most Americans.

One of the factors that helps drive my belief that somewhere around three-quarters of the people in this country are barely-evolved, easily-led sheeple is the fact that lots of them are so easily bamboozled by bullshit industry front groups that pass themselves off as the voice of ever-so-concerned real Americans (see, astroturf).

In that vein, yours truly received a plaintive missive from someone passing himself off as a terribly concerned citizen, railing at me to stop New York’s proposed beverage tax. Note all the effort to make the email seem personal and heartfelt (emphasis all mine):

My name is Joseph. I’m contacting you today on behalf of nobeveragetaxes.com to bring an urgent issue to your attention. Americans are up against legislation that may implement a food and beverage tax on sugary foods and beverages. For some products, it would increase the price by as much as 50%. Additional burden will be placed on families and businesses already struggling in this trying economy. Ultimately, thousands of jobs related to the sugar industry will be at risk. New York State alone stands to lose up to 6,000 jobs. If this happens, how will our economy get back on track? [...]

As citizens, it is our responsibility to let our officials know that the solution to childhood obesity relies in education, not taxation, and that punitive, discriminatory taxes will only hurt hard-working Americans. I’m hoping you’ll join me in voicing the statement, No Food and Beverage Taxes! before it’s too late.

It goes on with more treacly nonsense for a while. The tone of the email, and the obvious front-group-fraud it was perpetrating, prompted me to do a bit of research.

First, a quick whois search revealed that the website in question is registered to a company in Washington D.C. named Goddard Claussen:

Registrant:
	
Goddard ClaussenSue Zoldak701 8th St NW Suite 400Washington, DC 20001USPhone: +1.2022935870Email: [email protected]

Next, a quick Google search revealed that Goddard Claussen is a powerhouse D.C. public relations firm that shills for all kinds of corporate interests. As it turns out, they were the groundbreaking PR firm that shilled for the health care industry in the 90s with their infamous “Harry and Louise” ads:

National advocacy advertising didn’t just happen. It was invented. And we invented it in the early ‘90′s with the fictional couple – “Harry and Louise” – created to give a clear, unified voice to those who opposed President Clinton’s sweeping health care proposal. The unique campaign, managed by Goddard Claussen, caught the attention of the media, the White House and the American people. A year later, “Harry and Louise” earned a spot on Advertising Age’s prestigious “Marketing 100” and was named the Best Public Policy Campaign by the American Association of Political Consultants. It’s widely credited as being the key factor in defeating the Clinton Health Plan.

Now, I’m not saying that companies and industries aren’t supposed to be able to fight for what’s in their own interest, i.e., more profits.

I just take serious exception to all the bullshit corporate astroturfing that is going on right now, in which corporations hide their self-advocacy behind a series of smokescreens that paint an image of real grassroots anger about some particular issue.

And the really serious thing that pisses me off is that this thinly veiled bullshit works.

People really are stupid enough to think that emails like the one I got express the genuine concerns of a fellow citizen, rather than the perfectly valid push by an industry group to protect its members’ profits.

I’m not sure that we’re ever truly going to evolve beyond the state humanity finds itself in today.

Update: I thought Joseph would like to know that I responded to his request and created a blog post on the topic he is so concerned about. So I sent him back the below email (and CC’ed the entire leadership team at Goddard Claussen):

Hi Joseph,

Thanks for your email. As you requested, I posted a thought-provoking blog entry about the important issue raised by your email. I hope you’ll check it out at http://www.librarygrape.com/2010/03/beverage-industry-shill-firm-goddard.html . I’ve also copied it in below for your convenience. I hope this post (on my popular and widely-read blog) will generate a lot of attention to the issue that underlies the work that you are doing.

Metavirus @ Library Grape