Rent-a-Crowd

What Is a Rent-a-Crowd?

A rent-a-crowd is a group of individuals employed to make a business, rally, protest, or other public event appear occupied, popular, and very much supported.

Rent-a-crowds are in some cases employed at the grand opening of another business. Droves of interested-looking attendees can give the impression that the products or services the business gives are special and entice real customers to come and see what all the fight is about. Rent-a-crowds may also be utilized by political candidates to simulate broad public interest or support.

How a Rent-a-Crowd Works

The viability of rent-a-crowds is based on the principle of the rational herd or herd instinct. Individuals will frequently abandon their own research, information, or clear market fundamentals assuming that apparently many others are pursuing a direction. This phenomenon is best summarized by P.T. Barnum, who once said that "nothing draws a crowd like a crowd."

Specialized marketing and promotion companies and casting agencies give crowds to businesses and different elements for a fee. While individuals from a rent-a-crowd may themselves support the company, product, brand, political candidate, or whatever else they are being paid to underwrite, they are not unconditionally offering their help.

The practice of utilizing a rent-a-crowd is related to the practice of "astroturfing," in which the message of a company or organization is masked to make maybe it is the product of a grassroots movement. Contingent upon the job, setting, client, and size, a rent-a-crowd generally costs from $15 per person each hour or generally $50 per person per gig.

Initiates that are paid to participate in a rent-a-crowd are tasked with showing enthusiasm and looking and sounding authentic. Many of them are professional actors and, by and large, will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to safeguard the client's anonymity and prevent the embarrassing revelation that their public support was paid for and was not authentic.

Examples of Rent-a-Crowd

Business

Rent-a-crowds can be a decent strategy to assist with getting new customers into the door of a business. Hiring a crowd can simulate the appearance of energy, make a business look occupied, and give potential clients the impression that business is great. Thus, this may incite the interest of passers-by or different spectators.

One rent-a-crowd company in California creates a VIP like shopping experience for individuals in which an employed flash mob is utilized to simulate fake paparazzi and different eyewitnesses. Rent-a-crowds have also been utilized at trade shows to simulate buzz about another product or service.

Politics

Donald Trump's presidential campaign announcement in 2015 famously utilized the services of a rent-a-crowd company. Trump's campaign recruited actors to simulate public support for his candidacy, and individuals were allegedly paid $50 to cheer at the event.

Such careful orchestration of political and protest events is entirely expected. Labor unions regularly pay temporary workers or even the destitute to walk picket lines. At New York City's Pride Parade in 2015, anti-gay marriage protesters were found to be employed individuals from a rent-a-crowd service.

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Rent-a-Crowd

It's not hard to see the reason why the business of rent-a-crowds is fruitful. Individuals will more often than not be affected by their friends and are generally bound to buy and express support for things that other apparently respectable individuals from the community have already vouched for. When employed really, rent-a-crowds can potentially transform a business or political movement's possibilities overnight.

Be that as it may, this phenomenon has understandably attracted a ton of analysis. Doubters say rent-a-crowds mislead the public, and that anyone who utilizes them ought to be treated dubiously. Advocates disagree, arguing that hiring crowds is the same than any other marketing strategy.

Individuals could do without finding that they've been misdirected, so it's a good idea that anyone who gets found out with a rent-a-crowd may find their authenticity questioned. While a few political candidates may manage to keep their reputations intact in spite of having utilized this marketing tactic, not every person can hope to have this karma. In the world of politics and business, trust is crucial. Getting uncovered as a fake might actually have very damaging outcomes.

Features

• A rent-a-crowd is a group of individuals recruited to make a business, rally, protest, or other public event appear occupied, popular, and very much supported.
• Initiates, many of which are professional actors, are usually asked to consent to a non-disclosure arrangement (NDA) to prevent the potentially damaging truth that they were paid to offer support from being revealed.
• Rent-a-crowds can assist with getting new customers into the door of a business, as well as simulate broad public interest or support for political candidates.
• Specialized marketing and promotion companies and casting agencies give rent-a-crowd services to a fee, frequently charging businesses or politicians $15 per person each hour or generally $50 per person per gig.