The Controversial Public Relations Tactics Behind Blake Lively’s Lawsuit

Blake Lively’s lawsuit lays bare unethical public relations tactics, such as astroturfing and smear campaigns, and exposes ethical breach in the crisis management industry.

The filing of Blake Lively’s legal complaint against Justin Baldoni on December 20 has sparked a debate in the public relations industry. 'Baldoni is a phony, they are all phonies,' Lively alleged, accusing Baldoni, publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis management expert Melissa Nathan of orchestrating a smear campaign in response to her sexual harassment allegations.

In the lawsuit, the PR team is accused of using astroturfing—faking grassroot support to shape public opinion—by tricking journalists and social media influencers with negative stories about Lively. The tactics these experts say went beyond standard crisis PR damaged the reputation of the profession, they say.

Frequently, in the PR world, such is crisis management, but Lively’s case shows how some ethics lines might be crossed in damage control. This has generated a debate to demand more accountability and more transparency in how public relations firms deal with scandals, with a large number asking how campaigns are conducted to create public perception.