| All in the Family | |
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By Larry |
3/29/2001 |
Sidebar
Big League Spin
The reputation of Hill & Knowlton
Big League Spin
The reputation of Hill & Knowlton
In the books Trust Us, We're Experts! by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, and Global Spin, by Sharon Beder, Hill and Knowlton is recognized as a preeminent international spin machine. With 50 offices in 20 countries, affiliations with more than 70 associate companies, and more than 1,200 employees, it is one of the world's largest public relations firms.
It helped set up the Tobacco Institute to promote cigarette smoking (Public Relations Journal called it one of the "most formidable public relations/lobby machines in history"), helped the lead industry suppress public health concerns, helped US Gypsum dismiss asbestos worries, calmed the public after Three Mile Island, helped Exxon recover from the Valdez oil spill, helped restore China's image after Tiananmen Square, helped Pacific Lumber log redwoods by distributing fake Earth First! material calling for violence.
In the 1993 State of Mississippi vs. the Tobacco Cartel, H&K's Tobacco Institute PR campaign was described: "Rather than work for the good of the public health as it had promised, and sponsor independent research, the tobacco companies and consultants, acting through the tobacco trade association, refuted, undermined, and neutralized information coming from the scientific and medical community."
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