Heinz Seeks to Disavow Kerry Connection

AP | 3/29/04 | Charles Sheehan

[The South Texan]

Heinz Seeks to Disavow Kerry Connection

By CHARLES SHEEHAN, AP Business Writer

PITTSBURGH - 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 (news - web sites).

His wife is Teresa Heinz Kerry, 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.

"It's just crazy," Foster said. "We haven't been involved in politics since Morris the Cat ran for president in 1988" — when the company ran a spoof campaign with Morris, the face of Heinz 9 Lives cat food, as the finicky candidate.

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.

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 (news - web sites)'s use of footage from the attacks in political ads.

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.

[Liberty Valance]

Dang. A Republican built fortune being spent by a democrat gigalo. Oy.

[VadeRetro]

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 (news - web sites)'s use of footage from the attacks in political ads.

Probably the only mention of this I've seen in an AP story.

[VadeRetro]

The Heinz Endowments President Maxwell King and David Potorti, co-director at Peaceful Tomorrows, have repeatedly denied any link.

The link is another leftwing organization, the Tides Foundation. Heinz Endownments to Tides Foundation to Peaceful Tomorrows. Tinker to Evers to Chance.

[Texas Eagle]

Posted on 02/24/2004 7:49:48 PM PST by aznative List of known Heinz products. Courtesy of Heinz.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Click to Add Topic KEYWORDS: HEINZ; Click to Add Keyword -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Report Abuse | Bookmark ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Navigation: use the links below to view more comments. first 1-50, 51-53 next last -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bagel Bites
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Mr. Yoshida's fine sauces
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Polly rice flour
Poppers
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tinytums
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Weight Watcher's Foods
Wyler's 1 posted on 02/24/2004 7:49:50 PM PST by aznative

[BlueAngel]

Me too! I love that ketchup, its called "Fancy Ketchup". I don't know where we could buy it, though.

[Fester Chugabrew]

. . . Del Monte now graces my table . . .

Don't know why, but I could never stomach Del Monte ketchup. Heinz, IMO, is the best. Sad to have such a good product so patently soiled by the Kerry Konnection. I don't blame H.J. Heinz one bit for wanting to distance themselves from such an anomaly to good taste.

[jimbo123]

4% of Heinz = $520 million. The boycott is working.

[McGavin999]

Are you kidding? You're talking about 50% of America. The Hollyweirdos are stupid, you can understand them losing 50% of their customers and being too dumb to know why, but you can't say the same thing for Corporate America. Especially one that has a LONG history in this country.

[jimbo123]

Press Release Source: H.J. Heinz Company


H.J. Heinz Company Confirms Its Widely Held Public Ownership And Non-Partisan Status
Monday March 22, 4:13 pm ET


PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2004--In light of some misleading speculation, the H.J. Heinz Company would like to make clear that neither Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry, Senator John Kerry nor any member of their family is involved in the management or board of the H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ - News). They have no involvement in the Heinz® Ketchup business or any of the company's other brands or products.
The H.J. Heinz Company, in accordance with its corporate governance policies, is a non-partisan organization.

Neither Mrs. Heinz Kerry nor Senator Kerry nor any of the Heinz trusts or endowments - either individually or collectively - holds a significant percentage of shares of the H.J. Heinz Company. In 1995 the Heinz Endowments and family trusts sold a large percentage of Heinz shares in a secondary share offering to diversify their holdings. As a result, their current holdings are under 4 percent.

There is no connection between any philanthropic programs of the H.J. Heinz Company and its Foundation and the Heinz family interests (including the Howard Heinz Endowment, the Vira Heinz Endowment, and the Heinz Family Philanthropies).

Currently, 60% of the sales of the H.J. Heinz Company are outside the United States and to accommodate those customers by providing facilities closer to those markets, the company maintains a number of overseas facilities that provide products for consumers in those markets. This allows Heinz to pack the freshest ingredients, tailor its recipes to local tastes and deliver the final products in a timely and efficient manner. In the United States, Heinz makes its flagship ketchup in factories in Fremont, Ohio; Muscatine, Iowa; and Stockton, California.

ABOUT HEINZ: H.J. Heinz Company is one of the world's leading producers and marketers of branded foods in ketchup, condiments, sauces, meals, soups, seafood, snacks and infant foods. Heinz is a global family of leading brands, including Heinz® Ketchup, sauces, soups, beans, pasta and infant foods (representing nearly one-third of total sales), Ore-Ida® french fries, Boston Market® and Smart Ones® meals and Plasmon® baby food. Heinz's 50 companies have number-one or number-two brands in 200 countries, showcased by Heinz® Ketchup, the world's favorite ketchup. Information on Heinz is available at www.heinz.com/news.

---

Contact:
H.J. Heinz Company
Media:
Ted Smyth, 412-456-5780
Debbie Foster, 412-456-5778
Jack Kennedy, 412-456-5923
Investors:
Jack Runkel, 412-456-6034

---

Source: H.J. Heinz Company

[kitkat]

*** Boycotting this company seems really silly & irrational. FR has way too many boycotts already. ***

The less products Heintz sells, the less money Terayyysa gets to fund liberal causes.

[John Thornton]

Market capitalization of Heinz: 13.08 Billion.

Dividend rate: $1.14 per share.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/research/profile.asp?Symbol=HNZ

[Gator113]

They're too late. We have already dumped Heinz products and we will never go back.

[Ciexyz]

If you boycott Heinz products, it will only harm the American workers who are making the products. Don't hurt the workers just to get to the ruling class.

[jimbo123]

Note in their press release, their spin job on outsourcing of Heinz factories.

[John Thornton]

Currently, 60% of the sales of the H.J. Heinz Company are outside the United States and to accommodate those customers by providing facilities closer to those markets, the company maintains a number of overseas facilities that provide products for consumers in those markets.

Benedict Arnold corporation. Why shouldn't 100% of Heinz products be produced in the USA? That's what John Heinz Kerry said should be the law for OTHER US corporations.

[Cicero]

I would imagine that 4% of Heinz corporation stock is a pretty big number. Revenue in 2002 and 2003 was over $2 billion. Estimated revenue for 2004 is around $1.9 billion.

I can't set my hands on the market capitalization right away, but I imagine it's a pretty large figure.

[jimbo123]

They can go to work for DelMonte if Heinz fires them or outsources them.

[Cobra64]

Hunts ketchup and Vlassic (chilled) dill pickles are my choices. And the French and most anything from the Left Coast are off my radar screen.

[arjay]

I want to be able to get a Whataburger.

[hocndoc]

It was just a coincidence that our Atkins diet keeps us from eating 57 sauce and ketchup.

But what a good coincidence.

(I always prefered Hunt's, anyway)