BuzzFeed Dumps Trump Ads

Jonah Peretti

BuzzFeed announced Monday that it was terminating a planned advertising deal with the Republican National Committee because Donald Trump's campaign "is directly opposed to the freedoms of our employees."

According to BusinessInsider, Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed's CEO, wrote an email to employees on Monday morning to inform them of the decision. BuzzFeed has published the email in full.

In it, Peretti said BuzzFeed had signed a deal in April for the Republican National Committee "to spend a significant amount on political advertisements slated to run during the Fall election cycle."

Politico reported that the contract was worth $1.3 million.

But since the deal was signed, Trump became the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee. Peretti noted that Trump has said he wants to bar Muslims from entering the US, has "threatened to limit the free press," and has made "offensive" statements towards various other groups of people.

Peretti wrote:

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 said BuzzFeed didn't need to agree with the positions or values of all its advertisers and that the decision would "have no influence" on how its editorial team covers the campaign.

But while BuzzFeed never likes to turn away ad dollars, Peretti said, the company can make exceptions.

"We don't run cigarette ads because they are hazardous to our health, and we won't accept Trump ads for the same reason," Peretti said.
BuzzFeed's advertising model is slightly different from most publications'. Rather than simply running display ads that brands create themselves, BuzzFeed's creative and video teams work with the advertiser to create original content, such as posts, quizzes, infographics, and videos.