BuzzFeed CEO compares Trump to cigarettes, pulls RNC ad campaign
BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced on Monday that the company has withdrawn from an ad deal with the Republican National Committee over the rhetoric of its presumptive candidate, Donald Trump.
“The Trump campaign is directly opposed to the freedoms of our employees in the United States and around the world and in some cases, such as his proposed ban on international travel for Muslims, would make it impossible for our employees to do their jobs," Peretti wrote in an email to BuzzFeed staffers announcing the move.
BuzzFeed's own report on the move cited editor-in-chief Ben Smith saying the decision had nothing to do with editorial coverage.
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"This was Jonah’s call, and the prerogative of a publisher," Smith wrote in an email to staffers.
Peretti concluded his email by noting that while BuzzFeed does not necessarily use moral judgement when deciding to work with advertisers, Trump proved to be an exception.
"We certainly don’t like to turn away revenue that funds all the important work we do across the company. However, in some cases we must make business exceptions: we don’t run cigarette ads because they are hazardous to our health, and we won’t accept Trump ads for the exact same reason," Peretti wrote.
Politico reported that the deal was worth $1.3 million.
The RNC and BuzzFeed did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Topics Elections
Jason Abbruzzese is a Business Reporter at Mashable. He covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the Internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, Jason served as Markets Reporter and Web Producer at the Financial Times. Jason holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an M.A. in International Affairs from Australian National University.
