An already-teased Super Bowl ad for a fast food chain featured a scantily clad TikTok influencer, marking the return of racy content for the franchise after an eight-year hiatus. Even Taylor Swift’s boyfriend told reporters that he was “excited” and that it was “a great honor” to play with President Donald Trump — who posted “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!

To understand President Donald Trump’s media strategy around the biggest television show of the year, it’s helpful to think of his actions as a brand activation. To command and control as much of the nation’s attention as he could around the Super Bowl, Trump simply took a page out of the advertising playbooks for consumer products.