Wells Fargo’s ad: Effective rebuttal or more money wasted?

The bailed-out bank’s CEO took umbrage over the outing of its outing

Maybe The New York Times and The Washington Post got a little bailout money of their own.

Wells Fargo & Co., a bank recipient of $25 billion from the U.S. government, took out advertisements in Sunday’s editions defending a canceled employee reward trip to Las Vegas.

John Stumpf, Wells’ CEO, wrote: “The problem is many media stories on this subject have been deliberately misleading. These one-sided stories lead you to believe every employee recognition event is a junket, a boondoggle, a waste, or that it’s for highly-paid executives. Nonsense!”

He contended that the events serve to honor top bankers, tellers, mortgage salespeople, and financial advisors. Stumpf said the bank is compelled to cancel the meetings amid “misperceptions” created by media reports.