Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign has deployed a filter on Snapchat blasting Democrat Hillary Clinton ahead of their Monday night debate.
The filter, which surrounds the user’s image with fireworks graphics, adds text reading “Debate Day” and “Donald J. Trump vs. Crooked Hillary,” along with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” tagline.
{mosads}The Independent Journal Review, a conservative website, was the first to report that Trump’s campaign had bought the geofilter, which the outlet reported is only available to one advertiser each day. The Independent Journal Review also reported that it is the first time a presidential campaign has used the national advertisement.
Snapchat is part of a growing digital advertising ecosystem in politics that is increasingly a magnet for campaign dollars.
The messaging application is seen as having a particularly captive audience of young people, a desirable demographic for presidential campaigns.
It has become a common tactic for candidates to use Snapchat’s precise geographic targeting options to attack their opponents.
Clinton, for example, purchased a geofilter covering a Trump rally in May, noting a comment from the Republican nominee saying that he hoped a housing crisis “happens because then people like me would go in and buy.” The Clinton campaign also bought anti-Trump geofilters during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this summer.