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Hill & Knowlton

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Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryPublic relations
Marketing services
FoundedCleveland, Ohio, U.S. (1927 (1927))
FounderJohn W. Hill
Headquarters
New York City, New York
,
U.S.
Number of locations
81 offices in 44 countries (2010)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Paul Taaffe, Chairman and CEO
ServicesMarketing communications
Corporate communication
Digital marketing
Full list of services
ParentWPP Group
Websitewww.hillandknowlton.com

Hill+Knowlton Strategies is a global public relations company, headquartered in New York City, United States, with 85 offices in 46 countries Hill & Knowlton was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1927 by John W. Hill and is today led by Chairman & CEO, Jack Martin. It is owned by the WPP Group.

History

Hill, a former reporter and financial columnist, started the firm in Cleveland in 1927; it became Hill & Knowlton when a public relations director for a defunct bank, Donald Knowlton, joined shortly thereafter.

In 1946, Hill and Knowlton dissolved their partnership and Knowlton took over the direction of Hill & Knowlton Cleveland, which closed shortly after Knowlton’s retirement in 1962.[1]

In 1952, Hill established a network of affiliates across Europe.[2] Hill & Knowlton was acquired by JWT Group Inc. in 1980. In 1987, JWT was acquired by WPP Group.[3]

Hill moved the headquarters to New York in 1934 and managed the firm until 1962.[citation needed]

Hill, a pro-business Republican, made his mark representing steel companies in labor disputes during the 1930s.[4]

Controversies

Tobacco industry

In 1953, members of the tobacco industry hired the firm to help counteract findings that suggested cigarette smoking led to lung cancer. As a result, a statement was released to nearly every major newspaper and magazine, which suggested that cigarettes had no verifiable links to cancer.[5] The tobacco industry remained a Hill & Knowlton client until 1968.[6][7]

Government of Kuwait

In 1990, H&K led over 20 other American PR firms in what has been called the "largest foreign-funded campaign ever aimed at manipulating American public opinion," according to the liberal Center for Media and Democracy.[8] H&K earned over $10.8 million for their work, paid by "Citizens for a Free Kuwait," an organization funded almost entirely by the Kuwaiti government.[8]

One controversial maneuver was the arrangement of the testimony of the Kuwait ambassador's daughter as “Nurse Nayirah” to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus on October 10, 1990. Nayirah falsely testified that she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers killing hundreds of premature babies at the al-Addan hospital in Kuwait City.[9] This lie had an enormous emotional impact on the decision in US-American politics and public to support the war against Iraq.[10] It was mentioned several times by president George H.W. Bush and other war-supporting people to manipulate the public opinion.[11][12]

Church of Scientology and Prozac

The Church of Scientology was a client of H&K. In 1989 the Church started a campaign against medicament Prozac, manufactured by Eli Lilly and Company. But in 1991 a very negative article about the Church was featured in Time magazine's cover, and a few days later H&K dropped the Church's account. It turns out that Lilly was an important client of James Walter Thompson, another PR company also owned by the WPP group. The Church sued Lilly, the WPP group and its two subsidiaries, alleging that Lilly had pressured the PR companies to drop its account in order to curtail its anti-Prozac campaign. The Church asked for $40 million in damages, alleging that H&K dropped their account just when the Church needed to defend itself against the Time article. The Church also alleged that "H&K's advice to CSI was distorted because of its strong ties to the pharmaceutical industry.".[13] In 1994 it was settled confidentially out of court for an undisclosed amount.[14]

Governments around the world

The company has frequently been criticized for its work with governments that tried to improve their reputation, when they were accused of human rights violations such as Indonesia, Turkey, and the Maldives.[4]

Bank of Credit and Commerce International

H&K represented the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) following its drug-money laundering indictment. According to the BCCI affair report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate, H&K's actions raised questions concerning a conflict between H&K as a public relations firm and the public interest.[15][16]

Fracking and the Gas & Oil Industry

In 2009, members of ANGA (America's Natural Gas Alliance), a lobbying organization for the gas industry, spread $80 million in funds across several agencies that included Hill & Knowlton to try to influence decisions on the process of gas extraction known as hydraulic fracturing[17] Similar to the strategy used for the pro-cigarette campaigns run in the 50s and 60s, the tactic the company is using for the issue is to simply raise doubt in the public's mind about the dangers of the fracking process.

Wikipedia editing

Wikiscanner found that a Hill & Knowlton employee added a reference to a company blog post in the Wikipedia article on internal communications.[18]

Trade association membership

Hill & Knowlton Communications is a member of The International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC)

References

  1. ^ [Knowlton, Donald Snow - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=KDS]
  2. ^ [Timetoast-History of Hill and Knowlton Public Relations: http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/history-of-hill-and-knowlton-public-relations]
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ a b Goodell, Jeffrey (9 September 1990). "What Hill & Knowlton Can Do for You, (And What It Couldn't Do for Itself)". New York Times. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
  5. ^ "Hill & Knowlton: 1994 Waxman Committee
  6. ^ Text from H&K's smoking release "A Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers"
  7. ^ Richard W. Pollay, "Propaganda, Puffing and the Public Interest", Public Relations Review, Volume XVI, Number 3, Fall 1990.
  8. ^ a b Stauber, John; Rampton, Sheldon (1995). "How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf". Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry. Common Courage Press. ISBN 1-56751-060-4.
  9. ^ "Deception on Capitol Hill" (New York ed.). New York Times. January 15, 1992.
  10. ^ "When contemplating war, beware of babies in incubators". Christian Science Monitor. September 6, 2002.
  11. ^ John R. MacArthur, "Remember Nayirah, Witness for Kuwait?", Op-Ed, New York Times, A17, January 6, 1992.
  12. ^ Knightley, Phillip (October 4, 2001). "The disinformation campaign". London: Guardian.
  13. ^ "H&K's dropping of church account lands firm in court", The Washington Times (2 ed.), p. B9, 30 march 1994 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) The cited Time article is Richard Behar (May 6, 1991), "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power", Time, featured in the cover
  14. ^ James Garcia (July 7, 1994), "Church of Scientology settles suit with PR firm", St. Petersburg Times, p. 1.E
  15. ^ http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/ProfessionalStandardsAdvisories
  16. ^ http://fas.org/irp/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/
  17. ^ "AdWeek: Grey Energizes America's Natural Gas Alliance By Noreen O'Leary
  18. ^ PR Week http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/733126/

Further reading

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