The White House killed an ad campaign by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after a costly Kristi Noem project, according to a new report.
According to an article by NOTUS, immigration-related ads that Noem filmed while she led the Department of Homeland Security made the White House “skittish” about greenlighting RFK Jr.’s health-focused ad campaign.
Two anonymous sources told NOTUS that RFK Jr. had plans for a “Take Back Your Health” ad campaign and was taking bids for “bold, edgy” pitches for TV and digital ads. NOTUS reported that the campaign would have cost as much as $20 million.
The ad campaign was meant to warn people about the dangers of processed foods, and RFK Jr. wanted to star in the ads with a device used by diabetics to track blood sugar, according to NOTUS. However, it was canceled a few weeks ago because the White House worried it would attract negative attention about overspending amid government cuts, NOTUS reported.
The White House’s concerns stem from a recent series of ads featuring Noem that cost tens of millions of dollars in contracts and told undocumented immigrants to self-deport, including one that showed her on a horse, according to NOTUS.
Noem’s ads aired last year, but she was fired earlier this year. Her replacement, Markwayne Mullin, is now demanding that U.S. Customs and Border Protection pull any lingering PSA-style videos of Noem that are still running at airport security checkpoints, according to HuffPost.
RFK Jr.’s Health and Human Services had been planning its ad campaign last year and reviewed more than two dozen different bids before zeroing in on three bidders, sources told NOTUS. HHS was looking at contracting with one bidder who pitched a Super Bowl ad and another who wanted to feature TikTok influencer Alix Earle, according to text messages viewed by NOTUS.