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PEPSI'S TRUMP
(FORTUNE Magazine) – No, that isn't the TV news you're seeing. It's the newest commercial from Pepsi-Cola. But yes, that is Donald Trump. Cool, coifed, and collected, the real estate baron, 42, strolls through a horde of reporters who part as neatly as the hair on his head. As he makes his way to his limousine parked outside -- what else? -- Trump Tower, he brushes aside questions about ''the other fight'' with a polite ''No comment.'' In real life Trump is more forthcoming. The TV reporters' curiosity about the ''other fight,'' he says, was designed to capitalize on the heavyweight boxing match between Michael Spinks and Mike Tyson, which Trump helped sponsor in Atlantic City. What the reporters in the commercial are really asking about is the never ending competition between Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Trump has always turned down requests to do commercials -- even for his hotels -- claiming such appearances would be ineffective. But when Pepsi agreed to contribute $50,000 to charity as his compensation, he relented. He'll match the $50,000 and give the money to his favorite charities, including AIDS Research and United Cerebral Palsy. He is also donating the proceeds -- $500,000 so far -- from his book, Trump: The Art of the Deal, to charity. In fact, he is so flush with royalties that he may write another book. ''If I can give $4 million or $5 million to charity because I decide to write a book, I may have that obligation to myself,'' he says. Now that's noblesse oblige. |
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