Hill+Knowlton Strategies

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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 Strategies 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]

In 1991, Mark McKinnon became vice chairman of Public Strategies (now part of Hill + Knowlton Strategies) and proceeded to work on a number of high-profile Texas political campaigns which earned him the media appellation "the Spin Doctor."[16][17] After meeting then Governor George W. Bush at a dinner at the governor's mansion, McKinnon and Bush developed a personal relationship. According to Karl Rove, "Bush and McKinnon clicked from moment one. In a bow to McKinnon's cool image, Bush dubbed him 'M-Kat.'" McKinnon claimed he was charmed by Bush Jr.'s "compassion." [18] He went on to lead the advertising and media team for Bush's gubernatorial campaign in 1998, and became president of Maverick Media, created for the purpose of electing Bush as president.[19] He was the chief media advisor and advertising director of Bush's first and second presidential campaigns, and was appointed by Bush to serve as a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, responsible for the U.S. government's international broadcasting programs.[20][21]

Fracking

Hill & Knowlton has worked closely to generate propaganda for the fracking industry in recent years.[22]

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.[23][24]

Scope

Hill & Knowlton represents or has represented up to 50% of the corporations on the Fortune 500 list.[25][26]

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://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2008/05/where-are-they-now-mark-mckinnon/
  17. ↑ http://www.texasmonthly.com/1996-11-01/feature5-1.php
  18. ↑ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/architect/interviews/mckinnon.html
  19. ↑ http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2008/05/where-are-they-now-mark-mckinnon/
  20. ↑ https://projects.publicintegrity.org/consultants/default.aspx?act=profiles&pid=2
  21. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20090716161937/http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/2707
  22. ↑ http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/grey-energizes-americas-natural-gas-alliance-100371
  23. ↑ https://cleantechnica.com/2022/11/06/400-scientists-call-out-cop27-pr-firm-for-supporting-fossil-fuel-clients/
  24. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/04/environmentalists-slam-corporate-influence-un-climate-talks/
  25. ↑ http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/410/18/97357.html
  26. ↑ http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=1007204
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