PA/Penzeys Spices/FacebookA spice company reportedly spent more than $100,000 in one week specifically on adverts calling for the impeachment of US President Donald Trump.
According to data released by Facebook, Penzeys Spices, a spice company based in Wisconsin, spent $109,933 between October 1 and October 7 on social media adverts which called Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a ‘mandatory open and shut case for the impeachment.’
The lengthy advert, posted numerous times on Facebook, also says the Republican party has ‘turned its back on conservative values and has instead come to embrace the ‘textbook’ racism of white nationalism.’
Penzeys Spices/FacebookThe data, as reported by Wisconsin Public Radio, shows the money Penzeys Spices spent on the advert between September 25 and October 5 was second only to the Trump Campaign’s own adverts about impeachment.
By comparison, Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren’s campaign spent only $20,000 on impeachment adverts in the same time.
According to reports, this isn’t the first time Penzeys has ventured into the world of politics, though company CEO Bill Penzey said this is their most successful campaign so far. At time of writing, the post has received more than 255,000 reactions, 54,000 comments and 45,000 shares.
PASpeaking to WPR, Bill Penzey said:
This one seems to have really caught a wind. I think people are starting to wake up and starting to actually see who this president is.
About the social media advert itself, and the impact it can have, he added:
I think in this coming election there’s going to be a lot of opportunities for businesses that have values to share those values with their customers. And I think that’s going to work out well for the businesses that do.
PAIn the advert, a lengthy Facebook post, Bill wrote:
You may not have been paying much attention this week, but the short version is the end is very near for this terrible turn the Republican Party has taken. The president’s Ukraine scandal is the big one.
I get that it can be hard to believe any scandal will stick, but this one is different. This one is going to show you, from its very beginning, our nation has been built up from its bedrock to be ready for any political party that would crown their leader king. America is something special. Looks like now everybody’s going to have a front row seat for seeing why.
Because somebody needs to say this:It’s the end of the Republican Party as we know it—And we should all feel fine…
Posted by Penzeys Spices on Thursday, October 3, 2019
He added: ‘Now’s not yet the time for counting chickens, but cautious optimism is definitely warranted. Without its propaganda the Republican Party we have come to know is done. Without that propaganda machine we get our loved ones back and that’s worth celebrating.’
Naturally, the post has received mixed responses, especially from customers concerned with the business’ outspoken political stance, though the CEO added he has no plans to change their advertising output.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.