Ad Agency Drops Helmsley Account, Cites Unpaid Bill

The advertising agency handling the Helmsley Hotel account quit today, saying an “arrogant” and “imperious” Leona Helmsley had refused to pay two-thirds of the bill.

“We were being told, ‘Take it or leave it,’ ” said Elaine Taylor-Gordon, president of Taylor-Gordon, Aarons & Co. “We have decided to leave it.”

Taylor-Gordon said the agency bills the Helmsley organization for about $5 million a year in fees, and when the May-June bill was submitted, Helmsley paid only a third of it.

She said the fact that Helmsley is on trial for tax evasion had nothing to do with the decision, but she admitted that her ad agency had come under fire from critics.

Taylor-Gordon added that the agency had fulfilled “our side of the bargain, and we have become targets--almost pariahs--to our peers who have jumped into the fray to trash and attack the account for their own self-aggrandizement.”

Asked at a news conference to describe Helmsley’s relationship with her agency, Taylor-Gordon said the 69-year-old wife of Harry Helmsley was “arrogant” and “imperious.”

Taylor-Gordon told reporters that Helmsley would undoubtedly contact another ad agency, explaining, “Nobody fires the queen.”

“Whoever it is, I’m going to send them my supply of Maalox and Advil,” she added.

Taylor-Gordon said a previous ad agency had come up with the campaign depicting Helmsley as a “hotel queen” reigning over her hostelry empire.

She said her agency had changed the ads to reflect more on hotel hospitality and services.