Johnson & Johnson has appointed public relations agency Porter Novelli to handle its global CSR activities in what is reported to be a $300,000 annual deal, which is thought to run over several years, according to prweek.com.

The PR agency won a bid against competitors such as Edelman, FleishmanHillard, Ketchum and Portland, with Porter Novelli also handling a separate corporate account for the company in the US.

The multi-year CSR deal comes at a time when J&J is courting controversy and is defending its reputation against multiple lawsuits regarding links between its talc products and ovarian cancer, as well as breaching the UK drug regulation code over the advertising of its Nicorette products.