A 12-year-old public service ad for the anti-trafficking charity co-founded by Ashton Kutcher featuring former President Donald Trump has resurfaced online, amid continued backlash over the actor's previous support for Danny Masterson.
The PSA, which debuted in 2011, was unveiled on the website of the charity—then called the DNA Foundation—under the title "Donald Trump is a Real Man" and featured Jamie Foxx and Eva Longoria. The overall campaign, which included other ads, employed the slogan "Real Men Don't Buy Girls."
The campaign was brought back to the public's attention in an article recently published by New Republic, which looked into Kutcher's history with the charity, which is now called Thorn and was founded with then-wife Demi Moore in 2009.
Kutcher and his current wife Mila Kunis, to whom he has been married since 2015, issued a public apology on September 9 for the character letters they wrote supporting Masterson, who was this month sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women.
In his letter to the judge, Kutcher called Masterson a "role model," adding that he "has been nothing but a positive influence on me. He's an extraordinarily honest and intentional human being. Over the 25-year relationship I don't ever recall him lying to me. He's taught me about being direct and confronting issues in life and relationships head-on, resolving them, and moving forward."
Kutcher said in his subsequent apology that Masterson's family reached out to him and Kunis and asked them to write character letters ahead of his sentencing. He added that the letters were intended to show the character of the person they knew for 25 years.
The fallout from the letters led to Kutcher announcing on September 15 that he was stepping down from his role as chairman of the board at Thorn "[effective] immediately," explaining in his statement that he could not "allow my error in judgment to distract from our efforts and the children we serve."
More than a decade earlier, the outlook for Kutcher's philanthropic efforts at the organization was far more positive, with the actor and his then-wife's star power attracting a host of other big names to their campaigns.
In the clip centered around Trump, titled "Real Men Know How to Use the Remote," Oscar winner Foxx was seen sitting on a couch watching the real estate mogul on an episode of his reality TV competition The Apprentice.
"Real men know how to use the remote," a growling voiceover was heard saying, before Foxx used the back of the remote control to open a bottle of beer.
"Real men don't buy girls," the voiceover added, as Foxx took a sip from the bottle before turning to look at the camera.
Foxx's image was then added to a picture frame as he was labeled a "real man," alongside the likes of Tom Selleck, Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis and, finally, Trump.
The camera then cut to a wider shot showing Desperate Housewives star Longoria standing next to Trump's photo as she said: "Donald Trump is a real man. Are you?"
Stars featured in the background in "real man" frames included Bradley Cooper, Justin Timberlake, Sean Penn and Kutcher.
"Take a stand against child sex slavery," read a closing caption that included the statement "I am a real man" and "I prefer a real man." Also included was the website demiandashton.org, which no longer appears to be associated with the charity.
While the video has been removed from the internet, it can be viewed on The Wayback Machine, a digital archive of the World Wide Web.
Newsweek has contacted representatives of Thorn via email for comment.
Some of the aforementioned celebrities were featured in other ads at the time under the titles "Real Men Know How to Use an Iron," "Real Men Know How to Shave," and "Real Men Know How to Make a Meal."
The ads drew criticism when they were unveiled. Human rights attorney Norma Ramos, then executive director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, told Fox News: "There is a general dumbing down that is going on and this is an example of dumbing down a social justice movement with the narrowest message possible."
"Those men who are buying girls and children are pedophiles; they're not going to be swayed by that campaign," added Ramos. "They have got to have a campaign which is 'real men don't buy sex.' You have to sacrifice wanting to be cool for wanting to be effective."
Ramos, who worked for three years as Deputy Secretary for Civil Rights under former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, also criticized Trump being included in the campaign, given his ownership of the Miss Universe Organization at the time.
"Donald Trump is CEO of a beauty pageant which simply fosters reducing women to sex objects," Ramos said. "Once you reduce a human being to a thing they become disposable, and putting him in this category of people, I would have chosen the men a little more carefully."
Trump was eventually compelled to sell the Miss Universe Organization—which includes Miss USA and Miss Teen USA—back in 2015, after he made incendiary remarks about Mexicans that caused broadcasters to flee. He was elected president the following year.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
