Report: Trade groups spend more on PR than lobbying A new report by the Center for Public Integrity has found that some of the nation's largest associations throw more money into advertising and public relations than they do into lobbying. "Take, for example, the American Petroleum Institute," CPI reported. "The oil and gas industry trade group spent more than $7 million lobbying federal officials in 2012. But that sum was dwarfed by the $85.5 million it paid to four public relations and advertising firms to, in effect, lobby the American public—including $51.9 million just to global PR giant Edelman." API spent more than $327 million in advertising and PR between 2008… Read More