Koch and his company launch ‘end the divide’ ad campaign
Billionaire aims to start conversation instead of conflict
Working to soften his partisan image, conservative billionaire Charles Koch’s industrial conglomerate will launch a television and digital advertising campaign this week that calls for Americans of all political stripes to “end the divide” as he seeks broader support for his free-market ideas and defends his corporate brand.
The advertising, which starts Friday, aims to “get a national conversation going,” Koch told USA TODAY. “Let’s stop attacking people we disagree with and trying to silence them. Let’s instead try to find common ground and learn from each other, so we can innovate.”
The campaign comes as Koch and his aides work to retool parts of his vast policy and political empire and direct more money and effort toward public policy and social change. The network recently launched a new arm, dubbed Stand Together, which has set attacking poverty and boosting educational quality as early goals. Koch officials disbanded an oppositionresearch unit that gathered information about liberal groups, Democratic candidates and others.
Koch expressed skepticism this week about Republican Donald Trump’s presidential bid but said he’s not retreating from national and state politics. He calls the changes part of the “normal review” that his network and company undergo periodically to remain nimble and competitive.
‘“The world is changing,” he said. “We’ve got to change at least as fast as the world, hopefully faster.”
The new 60-second commercial initially will air on news programs and expand to sports and entertainment shows, said Steve Lombardo, who oversees communication and marketing at Koch Industries. It opens with images contrasting a state- ly mansion with a trash-strewn neighborhood as a narrator talks of a country “divided between success and failure, with government and corporations picking winners and losers.”
It hits themes Koch has pursued for years, arguing that the criminal justice system is rigged against the poor and that gov- ernment regulation thwarts business growth. Print versions of the ads will appear in several national newspapers Monday.
EndTheDivide.com, a new website, highlights efforts to “promote equal justice and a free and open society,” such as the company’s decision to stop asking potential employees about their criminal histories on job applications.
Lombardo would not disclose how much Koch Industries will spend on the new campaign, but it comes as Koch and his company continue a multiyear, public relations effort to define a family and company best known — and often vilified — for their role in electing Republicans to Congress and state legislatures.
Democrats have made it clear that they will not back off their criticism of the billionaire, particularly as Koch groups ramp up their activity in this year’s high-stakes Senate races.
“Voters know the GOP is the party of billionaires and big corporations, and that view is further cemented each time the Kochs spend for Republicans,” said Shripal Shah, a spokesman for Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC working to flip control of the Senate to Democrats.
“Let’s stop attacking people we disagree with and trying to silence them. Let’s instead try to find common ground and learn from each other.” Charles Koch