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Alabama developer sponsors Rose Parade anti-Trump skywriting campaign
At the 127th Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., messages written in the sky included "America is Great! Trump is disgusting," "Iowans dump Trump" and "Putin eats Trump for dessert."
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Alabama developer sponsors Rose Parade anti-Trump skywriting campaign
Twenty messages pillorying Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump floated through the Pasadena sky on Friday.
The messages written in the sky over the Rose Parade for two hours included "America is great! Trump is disgusting," "Iowans dump Trump," "Putin eats Trump for dessert," and "AnybodyButTrump.US."
Tuscaloosa, Alabama real estate developer Stan Pate paid AirSign Aerial Advertising between $58,000 and $60,000 for the skywriting campaign, company spokesman Eddie Thompson told KPCC.
Thompson said that Pate bought the messages in the sky to draw attention to his "Anybody but Trump" website because he really would vote for anybody but Trump.
“The Iowa caucus is coming up and he knew he could do it over the Rose Bowl, have a million people below and send a message before the Iowans at the game,” said Thompson.
Iowa's primary is coming up in February and many Iowa football fans were in Pasadena on Friday for the Stanford-Iowa Rose Bowl game.
Thompson said that Pate was not new to this kind of messaging, having called for Alabama Gov. Bob Riley's impeachment through a banner he bought to fly at an Alabama-Texas football game in 2010.
Sponsored message
Although AirSign has done other big skywriting campaigns, including writing the numerical value for pi for 90 minutes over the South by Southwest festival in 2014, Thompson said Friday's anti-Trump campaign was the most exciting one he has worked on so far.
“Because obviously Trump is a very polarizing individual and any time you spotlight him or what he's doing it becomes provocative,” said Thompson.
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