Donald Trump Ad: Republican Candidate Uses ‘Pokémon GO’ To Lure Different Demographic

The latest Donald Trump ad could be considered one of his most creative yet. Trump combined his attacks on the presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton with the most recent pop-culture hit. Pokémon GO has swept the world off its feet and has already has more registered daily users than Twitter. Pokémon GO quickly made its way into the world of American politics. Politicians across the country are taking pictures with Pokémon and posting it to their social media pages. It was only a matter of time before Donald Trump got in on the action.

Donald Trump is always full of surprises. He is well-known for his amazing ability to come up with catchy names that he attaches to his critics. Trump refers to Ted Cruz as “Lyin Ted,” Marco Rubio as “Little Marco,” and Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas.” He also pulled what arguably may be the greatest gag in all of politics. Trump bought the domain for jebbush.com and had the it redirect to his own campaign website. These antics will surely continue going into the general election, and Hillary Clinton has already felt the brunt of it. This new Donald Trump ad is only the beginning of what’s to come.

Trump’s infamous label for Clinton is “Crooked Hillary.” This nickname was derived from her potentially criminal allegations. Clinton reportedly jeopardized American security by using a email server that was not secure. She then proceeded to delete the emails. Many politicians, including Donald Trump, think Clinton should be in prison over the matter.

According to Fortune, FBI director James Comey claimed that Hillary Clinton was careless. Comey is also a Republican, and his statement was considered an opinion. As of right now, Clinton is still considered to be innocent in the matter. As the American people know all too well, Trump takes no prisoners, and he is now using Pokémon GO’s popularity to his advantage.

This Donald Trump ad was created for two reasons, to continue clawing at the notion of Hillary Clinton being a flawed candidate and to reach a larger demographic of people. The Trump campaign is using a similar strategy to the 2008 Barack Obama campaign. President Obama used social media and interaction with young adults to propel himself to the presidency. While Trump may be lacking significant support by young adults, this new kind of ad is clearly trying to gain their attention.

In more recent years, social media and pop-culture have played a much larger role in politics than ever before. President Barack Obama was smart enough to realize this sooner than later. The Republican Presidential Candidate from 2008, John McCain, was severely outnumbered in that demographic group. Trump is trying to not repeat the same mistake.

An article from Politico points out that Trump has mastered social media this election cycle. Trump’s use of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media outlets is off the charts. He Tweets throughout the day and night. His outlandish claims go viral in minutes no matter what time of day it is. News media outlets probably have a team totally designated to monitoring Trump’s social media accounts.

This Donald Trump Ad is the perfect example of targeting a new audience. Millions of Pokémon GO gamers probably saw the ad shared on social media and automatically made the reference. The point behind this ad is that more people see Donald Trump’s name and share it. Whether a person is a Republican or Democrat, the odds are that the video will be shared somehow. Friends will tag each other or send a link. Donald Trump has clearly mastered the art of social media and new Donald Trump ads like this will surface going into the general election.

[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]