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.
Thank you to all of my great Keyboard Warriors. You are better, and far more brilliant, than anyone on Madison Avenue (Ad Agencies). There is nobody like you!
Advertisement— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 15, 2020
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.
Hal Riney could kick your ass.
— Katherine M. Gordon (@katgordon) May 15, 2020
The Madison Avenue (Ad Agencies) redundancy reminds me of one of @SteveMartinToGo first tweets where he wrote LA (Los Angeles) as a spoof of not understanding Twitter.
— Katherine M. Gordon (@katgordon) May 15, 2020
R/GA, never one to shy away from a little snark, made a fair point.
Digital agency CEOs circa 2005 https://t.co/KUsmbvqgHe
— R/GA (@RGA) May 15, 2020
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.
Oh boy, Ad Age is gonna be lit this week https://t.co/C4ubpjcPNC
— Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz) May 15, 2020
Adweek reporter Mary Emily O’Hara realized even trade pub reporters aren’t safe.
Me last year: “Gee, politics reporting is really kind of scary with the president tweeting insults and threats at us all the time … maybe I’ll move into advertising where it’s safe. The president would never target ad people.”
Me today: pic.twitter.com/Iz7pkilhEY
— Mary ‘Reassuring Lesbian’ O’Hara (@MaryEmilyOHara) May 15, 2020
Bennett D. Bennett wondered what Don Draper might think.
Don Draper didn’t influence tons of young professionals to get into advertising just for that other Donald to shit on them all in a single tweet. Man, fuck that guy. 😂
— Bennett D. Bennett ♠️ (@BennettDBennett) May 15, 2020
And others, perhaps wisely, let GIFs do the talking.
https://t.co/02kWXNmnCs pic.twitter.com/BwBGKnFcOd
— Aisha Hakim (a-sha hay-kim) (@AishaAnnHakim) May 15, 2020
— social dongstancing 🍆 (@dongtent) May 15, 2020