In part two of our analysis of the scathing report issued yesterday by the non-profit organization Open The Doors entitled "How federal agency PR spending advances their interests rather than the public interest fiscal years 2007–2014," we review the firms who benefited the most from the $4.35 billion which has been spent by the government on Public Relations since 2007.
Interestingly, on the list of top public relations firms used by the government, many were not firms which we were familiar with.
"…in 2013, then-U.S. Senator Tom Coburn criticized the U.S. State Department under the leadership of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for spending $630,000 to convince taxpayers to 'like' the State Department on Facebook. The agency argued the Facebook campaign fit within its broad mission to inform the world of its activities. But should U.S. taxpayers and citizens of the world be encouraged to 'like' the State Department with taxpayer-funded PR campaigns or should those individuals decide to like the State Department based on the State Department's performance on the global stage? Was the campaign designed to advance the national security interests of the United States and displaced persons in places like Syria, or was the campaign an orgy of self-congratulations? After $4.5 billion in federal public relations spending over the past eight years, have we reached a point where the people's consent is being manufactured by our government?"
"$17.499 million spent by Internal Revenue Service on 'customer satisfaction surveys' and analysis — IRS has a 90% positive rating. Would a citizen really tell the IRS any differently?"
"PR services were procured by 139 federal agencies including: Centers for Disease Control ($412.7 million), Department of the Army ($254.9 million), Substance Abuse and Mental Health ($163.0 million), Federal Emergency Management Agency ($96.6 million), National Institutes of Health ($82.2 million), State Department ($79.9 million), Bureau of Engraving and Printing ($67.2 million), Veterans Affairs ($38.4 million), National Highway Safety Administration ($35.5 million), and more."
Editor's note (2026 update)
The federal government PR spending pattern this 2015 piece documented has continued — and intensified, with new dimensions added by the AI Communications era. Federal agencies now face the additional challenge of how their work appears inside AI engine answers, where the public increasingly forms opinions before encountering the agency directly. The major firms named in this 2015 piece have continued to dominate federal communications work: Ogilvy (part of WPP), FleishmanHillard (part of Omnicom), Porter Novelli (integrated into FleishmanHillard following Omnicom's 2026 restructuring), and Hill+Knowlton (now Burson, part of WPP).
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
