Ken Fisher Strikes Back With Ads Featuring Female Employees

(Bloomberg) -- Ken Fisher is striking back with an advertising campaign that showcases female employees to clear up his firm's image after he made lewd remarks.

One full-page advertisement, featuring seven female employees at Fisher Investments, is headlined: “You Heard Their Story. Now Hear Ours.” It includes statistics that put the company in a favorable light: “Over 800 women strong, with women leading 63% of employees.”

The campaign follows a backlash against Fisher, who along with four other men make investment decisions for the firm. Clients including pension funds and investment firms have yanked almost $3.9 billion in response to inappropriate remarks he made in October. Days after, the company introduced a diversity and inclusion task force and Chief Executive Officer Damian Ornani stressed the money manager's commitment to women.

“Over the past few weeks, numerous women at Fisher Investments expressed their desire to share their stories in reaction to recent, inaccurate media reports,” said John Dillard, a Fisher spokesman. “The women in the ad were asked if they wanted to participate, and were eager to do so.”

The advertisements include testimonials from women defending the company. A vice president of global marketing says, “The stories out there don't feel like who we are, and if they were, I wouldn't be here.”

The company has also set up a website to provide more information about women at the firm.

The ads were published in the Wall Street Journal and the Dallas Morning News on Friday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sabrina Willmer in New York at swillmer2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Mirabella at amirabella@bloomberg.net, Vincent Bielski

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