H.J. Heinz Co. has launched an election-year campaign of its own, this one to distance the ketchup maker from what is shaping up to be an acrimonious presidential race. The company has sent nearly 50 letters to radio and television talk shows nationwide to tamp down chatter on the airwaves and Internet suggesting revenue from ketchup sales will benefit the campaign of pending Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
| I love it when a plan comes together. |
His wife is Teresa Heinz Kerry, wacko lefty heiress to the $500 million family ketchup fortune. The company has received about 150 calls this month from consumers vowing to boycott Heinz products, or in some instances to buy more, said company spokeswoman Debbie Foster.
| Oh, I bet the boycott is in the majority, otherwise they wouldn't do anything. |
Heinz Kerry, who was married to Republican Senator H. John Heinz III when he was killed in a 1991 plane crash, is not on Heinz's board and is in no way involved with company management, Foster said.
| She just rakes in money. Lots of it. |
Collectively, Heinz Kerry, along with her children with John Heinz and The Heinz Endowments which she chairs, own less than 4 percent of outstanding company stock. The company has not seen any effect on sales.
But it took action after The Heinz Endowments was accused of funding Peaceful Tomorrows, a group for Sept. 11 victims' families that criticized President Bush's use of footage from the attacks in political ads.
| And criticized pretty much everything about the WOT as well. |
The Heinz Endowments President Maxwell King and David Potorti, co-director at Peaceful Tomorrows, have repeatedly denied any link. While many talk shows have since backed away from those claims, Internet chat rooms are still buzzing with calls for a Heinz boycott.
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