What The??

Donald Trump’s Latest Target: Madison Avenue

By Minda Smiley 

It’s Friday. If, for some reason, you haven’t completely checked out of all things advertising related and find yourself reading this, well … we’re sorry. Not much we can do about that, but what we can do is bring you a breezy little roundup of ad Twitter’s reaction to Donald Trump’s latest proclamation.

Last night, Trump tweeted a message of thanks to his “great Keyboard Warriors” (also known as trolls and bots). And yes, he did feel the need to clarify what Madison Avenue means. Make of that what you will.

It’s not immediately clear what spurred this tweet, but we do know he wasn’t too happy with the “Mourning in America” ad recently created by The Lincoln Project, an organization dedicated to preventing his reelection. It’s also worth noting he spent millions of dollars on a Super Bowl ad this year.

We’ve largely become accustomed to Trump’s tweets and meltdowns. With everything going on in the world, it’s almost hard to believe “covfefe” once elicited so much coverage and analysis. But it’s not often the president chooses to attack our little corner of the world, so his latest rebuke managed to catch the eye of a few of our industry’s most vocal (on Twitter at least).

Kat Gordon, founder of the 3% Movement, had a few thoughts on the matter.

R/GA, never one to shy away from a little snark, made a fair point.

Alex Kantrowitz, a former Ad Age reporter who’s now at BuzzFeed, couldn’t help but muse over what his old employer might make of Trump’s hot take.

Adweek reporter Mary Emily O’Hara realized even trade pub reporters aren’t safe.

Bennett D. Bennett wondered what Don Draper might think.

And others, perhaps wisely, let GIFs do the talking.

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