The US government has spent, on average, one billion dollars a year over the last decade on public relations, with the Department of Defense accounting for more than half of that advertising expenditure, according to a federal watchdog.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that agencies dished out more than $900 million last year on PR and advertising—a slight increase from 2014, but below the $1.3 billion spent on outreach in 2009.
A main driver of PR spending, the GAO found, is the Pentagon, which averaged more than $620 million spent each year on promotion.
Other examples of government PR include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disseminating information on the Zika virus; the Transportation Department’s campaign against texting while driving; and webcams at the Smithsonian National Zoo that allow online visitors to view animals.
Those specific campaigns, however, are minuscule compared to the Department of Defense’s activities, which consumed 63 percent of the average total government PR spending over the last decade.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which devoted significant resources to promoting the Affordable Care Act exchanges and encouraging people to enroll, was the next largest purchaser of PR services, accounting for 12 percent of total average spending over the last ten years.
The GAO’s analysis also found that government spent on average $430 million a year on public relations employees’ salaries. In 2014, the government employed more than 5,000 PR professionals, with the majority working within the Pentagon.
The watchdog noted that the spending estimates do not capture the entire scope of the government’s PR activities since auditors did not include spending on things like signage that could be used for PR, as well as official duties. But the report does offers the first glimpse at the cost of government-wide PR efforts.
The study was commissioned by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wy.), the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
“With increasing pressures on limited federal resources, it is crucial to know how much is spent across the federal government on public relations activities and which federal agencies are spending the most,” the Senator said in a statement in response to the GAO findings.
One factoid that’s likely to roil Republicans who want to penny-pinch government PR efforts is that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau spent the largest percentage of its annual budget on advertising. The agency, which regularly solicits complaints from bank customers, is a frequent target of GOP lawmakers.
The outreach, however, has helped the bureau return almost $12 billion to 27 million consumers since it was founded in 2011.
