Editing Public relations (section)

===Reputation laundering===
{{main|Reputation laundering}}
Some PR firms perform [[reputation laundering]] services.  In these situations, a client will hire a PR firm to conceal unethical, corrupt, or criminal behavior. The PR firm will supply services that improve the client's reputation and obscure the client's history, such as: arranging publication of positive press, coordinating donations to charities, arranging sponsorships and advertising (such as of sports teams), arranging attendance at major social events, and recommending prominent associations that the client can join.<ref>''The United Nations and Transnational Organized Crime'', p. 166, Phil Williams, Ernesto Ugo Savona, Psychology Press, 1996.</ref><ref name="GUARD2010">{{Cite web |date=2010-08-03 |title=PR firms make London world capital of reputation laundering |url=http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/aug/03/london-public-relations-reputation-laundering |access-date=2022-11-11 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref><ref name="NED">"Waking up to Reputation Laundering as a Mechanism for Transnational Kleptocracy"  Melissa Aten, John Glenn (editors) March 2022, National Endowment for Democracy, https://www.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Global-Insights-Waking-up-to-Reputation-Laundering-as-a-Mechanism-for-Transnational-Kleptocracy.pdf</ref>  Other mechanisms employed by PR firms on behalf of the purportedly corrupt or criminal customers include [[Sock puppet account|fake social media accounts]], [[Fake blog|blogs by fake personalities]], or partisan op-eds.<ref>''Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond'' Allan Thompson, p 509, 2019, McGill-Queen's Press. "So-called 'black' public relations (PR) firms have also played an important role as hired proxies for state-sponsored trolling attacks, notably Bahrain.  These firms offer 'reputation laundering' services, which take many forms,  including..."</ref>

Notable PR firms that have engaged in reputation laundering include British PR firm [[Bell Pottinger]], which employed reputation laundering in support of clients such as [[Alexander Lukashenko]], [[Bahrain]], and the Pinochet Foundation.<ref name="UKPR">{{Cite web |date=2017-09-05 |title='Reputation laundering' is lucrative business for London PR firms |url=http://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/sep/05/reputation-laundering-is-lucrative-business-for-london-pr-firms |access-date=2022-11-11 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>  PR firms [[Havas]], [[Publicis]], and [[Qorvis]] were hired by Saudi Arabia to perform reputation laundering after [[9/11]] and the [[assassination of Jamal Khashoggi]].<ref name="NED"/> Most beneficiaries of reputational laundering are politicians or politically affiliated individuals and organizations, but this type of PR can also be employed by businesses and non-politicians. 
  
The [[United Kingdom]] government published reports  stating that Russian oligarchs had been "extending patronage and building influence across a wide sphere of the British establishment" and had employed public relations firms that were "willing beneficiaries, contributing to a ‘reputation laundering' process".<ref name="FINTIM">{{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=Daniel |date=2022-05-04 |title=British accountants and PR firms told to cut Russia ties |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/f79e55e7-dd07-4fab-b7b8-fa2991a4c4d0 |access-date=2023-05-24}}</ref><ref>"Economic crime in the UK: a multi-billion pound problem"  Oliver Bennett MBE, Ali Shalchi 6 April 2022,'' House of Commons Library'' https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9013/CBP-9013.pdf</ref><ref name="UKREP">{{Cite web |date=2020-07-21 |title=Government response to Intelligence and Security Committee Russia Report |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-intelligence-and-security-committee-russia-report |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}</ref>