Hill+Knowlton Strategies: Difference between revisions

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For the next 30 years, the firm had a reputation for defending the steel industry in public relations campaigns, including against striking workers most notoriously in the steel strike of 1952. <ref name=Goodell90/><ref name=Miller95>{{cite book |title=Business and Economic History Volume 24 |author=Karen Miller |publisher=Business History Conference |url=http://www.thebhc.org/publications/BEHprint/v024n1/p0018-p0021.pdf |access-date=5 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514003229/http://thebhc.org/publications/BEHprint/v024n1/p0018-p0021.pdf |archive-date=14 May 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
For the next 30 years, the firm had a reputation for defending the steel industry in public relations campaigns, including against striking workers most notoriously in the steel strike of 1952. <ref name=Goodell90/><ref name=Miller95>{{cite book |title=Business and Economic History Volume 24 |author=Karen Miller |publisher=Business History Conference |url=http://www.thebhc.org/publications/BEHprint/v024n1/p0018-p0021.pdf |access-date=5 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514003229/http://thebhc.org/publications/BEHprint/v024n1/p0018-p0021.pdf |archive-date=14 May 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>


Throughout this time, the steel industry not only had a known devastating environmental impact in terms of land contamination and [[air pollution]] in the areas surrounding manufacturing centers, it was also a central driver of industrial fossilization and greenhouse gas pollution. A study conducted by [[CarbonBrief]] in 2021 found that the steel industry today remains responsible for 9-11% of global CO2 emissions, due to the fossil-fuel intense process used to manufacture it.<ref>https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-these-553-steel-plants-are-responsible-for-9-of-global-co2-emissions/</ref><ref>https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2021/08/19/how-sweden-delivered-the-worlds-first-fossil-fuel-free-steel/?sh=345af9a06b55</ref>
Throughout this time, the steel industry not only had a known devastating environmental impact in terms of land contamination and [[Air Pollution]] in the areas surrounding manufacturing centers, it was also a central driver of industrial fossilization and greenhouse gas pollution. A study conducted by [[CarbonBrief]] in 2021 found that the steel industry today remains responsible for 9-11% of global CO2 emissions, due to the fossil-fuel intense process used to manufacture it.<ref>https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-these-553-steel-plants-are-responsible-for-9-of-global-co2-emissions/</ref><ref>https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2021/08/19/how-sweden-delivered-the-worlds-first-fossil-fuel-free-steel/?sh=345af9a06b55</ref>


== Tobacco & Cancer ==
== Tobacco & Cancer ==

Revision as of 18:50, 10 November 2022

Propaganda Campaigns

Steel Pollution

The PR firm known today as Hill+Knowlton Strategies was founded in 1927 with the Otis Steel Company in Cleveland, Ohio as a major first client.[1][2]

For the next 30 years, the firm had a reputation for defending the steel industry in public relations campaigns, including against striking workers most notoriously in the steel strike of 1952. [2][3]

Throughout this time, the steel industry not only had a known devastating environmental impact in terms of land contamination and Air Pollution in the areas surrounding manufacturing centers, it was also a central driver of industrial fossilization and greenhouse gas pollution. A study conducted by CarbonBrief in 2021 found that the steel industry today remains responsible for 9-11% of global CO2 emissions, due to the fossil-fuel intense process used to manufacture it.[4][5]

Tobacco & Cancer

Starting in the 1950s, when the scientific consensus establishing the direct causal link between tobacco abuse, cigarette smoke, and lung cancer was established, Hill & Knowlton was hired as a PR agent for decades to protect the industry's profits and deny the enormous harm of the tobacco epidemic. [6]

Pollution Denial

Hill+Knowlton Strategies co-founded in the 1970s the Asbestos Information Association, which by denying the health risks of asbestos is responsible for thousands of lost lives.[7] Hill+Knowlton was also involved in similar practices concerning lead, vinyl chloride[8] and CFC.[9] During many of these operations Hill+Knowlton worked with notorious climate denier Fred Singer.

Money Laundering

In the 1980s, Hill + Knowlton represented the Bank of Commerce Credit International (BCCI) during its money laundering scandal. Until BCCI's conviction, the firm pressured regulators not to investigate the bank.[10][11]

Invasions of Iraq

In 1990, Hill + Knowlton was paid $10 million to elicit false testimony in Congress to fabricate a pretext for former President and CIA Director George H.W. Bush's planned invasion of Iraq [12] [13]. The testimony elicited was proven false after the invasion.[14][15]

Fracking

Hill & Knowlton has worked closely to generate propaganda for the fracking industry in recent years.[16]

COP 27

In November 2022, Hill & Knowlton, as official PR firm for the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, was criticized by scientists and environmentalists for having an appalling conflict of interest due to its century-long track record of pollution denial on behalf of fossil fuel and other industries.[17][18]

Scope

Hill & Knowlton represents or has represented up to 50% of the corporations on the Fortune 500 list.[19][20]

Sources

  1. ↑ Scott M. Cutlip (2013). The Unseen Power. Routledge. ISBN 9781136690006. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jeffrey Goodell (9 September 1990). "What Hill & Knowlton Can Do for You, (And What It Couldn't Do for Itself)". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  3. ↑ Karen Miller. Business and Economic History Volume 24 (PDF). Business History Conference. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 May 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  4. ↑ https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-these-553-steel-plants-are-responsible-for-9-of-global-co2-emissions/
  5. ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2021/08/19/how-sweden-delivered-the-worlds-first-fossil-fuel-free-steel/?sh=345af9a06b55
  6. ↑ http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/zkh84c00
  7. ↑ https://cprlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/AIA-Article-AJPH.pdf
  8. ↑ Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health, David Michaels, 2008, chapter 5
  9. ↑ Optimistic Environmentalist, The: Progressing Towards a Greener Future, David R. Boyd, ECW Press, 2015
  10. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=pTr8AQAAQBAJ&q=Hill+and+Knowlton+BCCI
  11. ↑ http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-08-21/business/1991233107_1_mankiewicz-relations-clients-international-clients
  12. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/oct/04/socialsciences.highereducation
  13. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=uWadPwAACAAJ&q=Toxic+Sludge+is+Good+For+You:+Lies,+Damn+Lies+and+the+Public+Relations+Industry+Paperback+by+John+Stauber
  14. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/14/business/the-media-business-advertising-a-dispute-in-the-public-relations-industry.html
  15. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20190407152520/https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1992-07-08-9202180589-story.html
  16. ↑ http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/grey-energizes-americas-natural-gas-alliance-100371
  17. ↑ https://cleantechnica.com/2022/11/06/400-scientists-call-out-cop27-pr-firm-for-supporting-fossil-fuel-clients/
  18. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/04/environmentalists-slam-corporate-influence-un-climate-talks/
  19. ↑ http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/410/18/97357.html
  20. ↑ http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=1007204
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