Introduction

The preceding chapters have developed an account of how civic and political change made possible the development of the field of public mobilization consultants. But while the evidence assembled thus far shows rather clearly that a market has indeed developed for these services and that these consultants are used widely by diverse organizations, the account has thus far left aside the question of the effectiveness of these campaigns in both mobilizing the public and also in generating policy change. Although the prevalence of these practices provides some indication that these grassroots campaigns are seen as effective, it remains possible that, like many other well-established organizational practices, usage is decoupled from efficacy. That is, organizations often adopt practices believed to be effective even when they may be fruitless or even counterproductive.

Studies by scholars of social movements and organized advocacy draw attention to a variety of factors that tend to be influential in the mobilization and policy outcomes of grassroots campaigns: the resources that groups can bring to bear, their skill in making alliances with policy elites, and their ability to carefully craft and frame their message. Although these factors tend to be applied to informal citizen advocacy groups and those who lack routine access through existing channels of policy influence, I argue in this chapter that many of the same explanations can be applied to “grassroots for hire” campaigns in which elite political consultants target key public audiences for mobilization on behalf of their paying clients.