Support Trump? Show it on Snapchat
LOS ANGELES After attacking rival Hillary Clinton on Twitter and Facebook, Donald Trump has turned to communications app Snapchat with a new debate-day advertisement that calls his presidential rival “Crooked Hillary.”
The Trump campaign bought a national “geofilter” to plug the Monday-night presidential debate on Snapchat, which has more than 100 million, mostly young, users. This is Snapchat’s first national, sponsored filter for a U.S. election. In the primary campaign, both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders bought regional filters for the areas in which they were campaigning, and Clinton’s campaign was set to roll out her own Snapchat ads during the debate.
Snapchat’s geofilters show up as a way to enhance a photo with text and pictures. After you snap a photo on Snapchat, you swipe and get generic stickers, which usually include the name of the city you live in, the time, different colors and the lens. Consumers and companies can buy their own lenses to share with others on the communications app. Then, they couple these lenses with geofencing, so a Snapchat user can find the filter in certain areas, usually parks and concert venues. In the Trump filter’s case, it will work anywhere in the U.S.
The ad, which goes over a photo, is titled “Debate Day, Donald J. Trump vs. Crooked Hillary,” and features fireworks, stars and Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan at the bottom.
The Clinton campaign said it would have Snapchat ads with debate highlights that will appear in battleground states.
It’ll also have a filter at a campaign event in Raleigh on Wednesday.