Industry trade group

An industry trade group is generally a public relations organization founded and funded by corporations that operate in a specific industry. Its purpose is generally to promote that industry through PR activities such as advertising, education, political donations, political pressure, publishing, and astroturfing.

Sometimes an industry association participates in public relations activities, but its main focus is in non-PR work such as collaboration between companies, or standardization.

Political influence

One of the primary purposes of trade groups, particularly in the United States and to a similar but lesser extent elsewhere, is to attempt to influence public policy in a direction favorable to the group's members. This can take the form of contributions to the campaigns of political candidates and parties through Political Action Committees (PACs); contributions to "issue" campaigns not tied to a candidate or party; and lobbying legislators to support or oppose particular legislation. In addition, trade groups attempt to influence the activities of regulatory bodies.

While direct contributions by PACs to candidates are required to be disclosed to the Federal Election Commission (or state and local election overseers) and are public information, and there are registration requirements for lobbyists, it can sometimes be difficult to trace the funding for issue and non-electoral campaigns.

Advertising

Industry trade groups produce advertisements, just as normal corporations do. However, whereas typical advertisements are for a specific corporate product, such as a specific brand of cheese or toilet paper, Industry trade groups advertisements are targeted to promote the views of an entire industry.

Below are two different general types of advertising used by these groups.

Ads to improve industry image

These ads are vague and mention only the industries products as a whole, painting them in a positive light in order to have the public form positive associations with that industry and its products. For example, in the USA the advertising campaign "Beef, it's what's for dinner" is used by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association to promote a positive image of beef in the public consciousness.

Ads to shape opinion on a specific issue

These are adverts targeted at specific issues. For example, in the USA, in the early 2000s the MPAA began running advertisements before films that advocate against movie piracy over the Internet.

List of worldwide industry trade groups

List of US national industry trade groups

List of European industry trade groups

List of Indian industry trade groups

List of Canadian industry trade groups

List of UK industry trade groups

Note: the term "industry trade group" is very little used in British English. Alternative terms used in the UK include trade association and employer association.

Nuclear Industry Association

Industry trade groups

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