Tuesday’s presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is unlikely to be a lighthearted affair. But creatives who support Harris are turning it into a game—of sorts—as they seek to use the former president’s words against him.
How pro-Harris creatives are gamifying the presidential debate
Two separate online experiences will be live during the debate hosted by ABC: “When He Lies We Win,” a personal project from execs of the agency Superconductor, and “The Weird Button” from Creatives for Harris.
“When He Lies We Win” is a fundraising effort that asks visitors to donate a set amount for each Trump statement deemed untrue—as judged by politifact.com. “The Weird Button” asks visitors to click a button whenever they deem a Trump comment to be “weird,” inspired by the Democrats’ embrace of the term “weird” to describe Trump and running mate JD Vance. The site will calculate the night’s weirdest moments after the debate.
Neither “When He Lies We Win” nor “The Weird Button” is affiliated with the Harris-Walz campaign. The campaign, though, is rolling out its own bingo game for debate night.
Visitors to WhenHeLiesWeWin.com can pledge from 10 cents up to $100 or more to ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising tool, for every Trump untruth. Organizers claimed Trump told around 16 lies in his debate with President Joe Biden, giving donors a sense of how much to contribute. (CNN reported that Trump told 30 lies, while Biden told at least nine.)
The execs from Superconductor are also working with influencers and has been building an audience on Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok with social posts in recent days.
“We are excited to turn Trump’s lies into joy for our country by gathering those small-dollar contributions,” said Allison Amon, one of the organizers.
Fellow organizer Jera Mehrdad called the effort “a no-brainer to use [Trump’s] lies as a way to raise money for [Harris] at a moment where everyone will be watching and tuning in.”
Prepping for a ‘weird’ evening
“The Weird Button” is the latest initiative from Creatives for Harris, an affinity group comprised largely of advertising executives. The group’s other recent efforts include “Insults for Good,” which monetizes conservative criticism of Harris and running mate Tim Walz.
WeirdButton.com is already live and has attracted a few thousand clicks on its virtual button since its launch. Its glowing green interface will collect clicks throughout the debate and crunch the data at the end.
The site allows users to donate to ActBlue.
Each button press also brings up past Trump quotes that have given Democrats pause, including “I’m a very stable genius,” “If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her” and “My fingers are long and beautiful ... as are various other parts of my body.”
Also read: Marketing lessons from Harris’ campaign messaging
Creatives for Harris said that repeating the word “weird” is useful to counter what they view as a normalization of Trump’s often erratic behavior and rhetoric.
“Our goal is simple. We want to keep weird out of the White House,” said Louie Spivak, associate creative director. “One step toward that is reminding the public that what Trump says is problematic, often untrue and just generally weird.”