Gordon Brown's Government spent £531.5 million of taxpayers' money on advertising and public relations in the last financial year — down just £8 million on a year earlier despite the recession.
The Labour Government's total bill for advertising was £213 million as it splashed out on campaigns such as the anti-obesity drive Change4Life and Army recruitment in the year to March 31.
Whitehall departments spent a further £300 million on other forms of marketing such as PR, sponsorship and events.
Spending on "direct and relationship marketing" soared by a third from £45.6 million to £60.4 million.
The cost of digital marketing also rose from £40.0 million to £44.1 million.
Details were revealed when the Central Office of Information, which oversees Government marketing and communications, today published its annual accounts.
The Conservatives were fierce critics of COI spending before the general election, suggesting some of it was politically motivated.
One of the first acts of the Lib-Con administration was to freeze all "non-essential" advertising and marketing and has called for it to be halved — to 1997 levels in real terms.
COI chief executive Mark Lund, who was appointed from the private sector last year, pointed out that he had already clamped down on costs.
Initiatives include a cheaper deal on buying media space and partnerships with civic groups — rather than just conventional advertising.
Mr Lund said: "In our new world of less money, empowered citizens and a Government keen to pass power to the individual, it is the way we must go forward."
Supporters of COI, Britain's biggest advertiser last year, argue that Government spending helped to sustain the media industry during the recession.
