CEO Pays 6 Figures for Full-Page NYT Ad on Trump

Josh Tetrick is head of vegan company Hampton Creek
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 18, 2016 9:01 AM CDT
CEO's NYT Ad to Trump: Your Campaign Is 'Un-American'
This Feb. 4, 2015, photo shows Josh Tetrick, CEO and founder of Hampton Creek Foods, speaking during a staff meeting in San Francisco.   (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

An LGBT advocacy group, a Hollywood star, and a Supreme Court justice have all taken on Donald Trump in recent weeks—and now the chief executive of a vegan food products company has jumped into the mix. Joshua Tetrick, CEO of Hampton Creek, took out a full-page ad blasting the GOP's presumptive nominee in Sunday's New York Times and, strategically, in the Cleveland Plain Dealer (the Republican National Convention begins in that city on Monday), the Washington Post reports. "Americans are frustrated and angry and scared," Tetrick writes in the eye-catching ad, which Quartz shows contained only an enormous "Dear Donald" at the top, followed by six short paragraphs, Tetrick's signature, and his phone number. "You've channeled this into your nomination. … Your campaign doesn't just seem wrong. It feels un-American."

What Tetrick paid for the ad is unclear, but both Quartz and the Washington Post offer estimates based on media kit numbers that range from about $152,000 to $193,000. Tetrick has opted for full-page Times missives before (the Hampton Creek site lists them), but those ads have typically linked somehow to agriculture or the food industry—more in line with a food-tech company that sells an egg-free, mayo-like spread and other food items. Tetrick—who notes to Fortune his gambit "might" hurt sales, but that he'd "feel sick if I didn't do anything"—tells Quartz he hoped his ad would spur other business bigwigs to step up in support of our country's "courageous and kind" citizens. "You should respect women. Immigrants make this country better. We should be civil to each other. ... There are these basic things that we don't need to argue about," Tetrick, who calls himself a moderate Democrat, tells CNNMoney, adding he was inspired by the recent death of Elie Wiesel. The ad's final message to Trump: "Turning away from you is a way to say who we are." (More Donald Trump 2016 stories.)

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