Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Trump campaign’s patriotic economic advert used Russian stock footage

It is not the first time the president’s campaign has run into trouble with adverts

Graeme Massie
Los Angeles
Friday 25 September 2020 15:28 EDT
Comments
Trump campaign uses Russian footage in campaign ad

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Donald Trump is running a patriotic “made in the USA” campaign ad that features footage manufactured in Russia.

The president’s latest ad focuses on the economy and shows factory workers in hard hats and children playing in a field.

“We built the greatest economy in world history and now we’re doing it again,” the advert boasts.

But eight seconds into the advert it cuts to a conveyor belt with boxes labelled ‘MADE IN USA’, which were created by Russian-based photographer and illustrator Novikov Aleksey, the Daily Beast reports.

And they state that in the Shutterstock listing for the footage there are also ‘MADE IN IRAN’, ‘MADE IN RUSSIA’ and ‘MADE IN CHINA’ versions available.

The same advert for Mr Trump also uses footage of an Illinois steel plant that fired more than 700 workers in the spring, according to Vice News.

It is not the first time the campaign has got into difficulty with their ads.

Earlier this month one online ad ran over footage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and asked Americans to “support our troops”, while showing stock footage and images of Russian military weapons and fighter jets.

And in August Mr Trump’s campaign manipulated footage of Joe Biden to falsely show him “isolated” in the basement of his Delaware home.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in