The White House sparked widespread attention on social media after publishing a video about U.S. strikes on Iran edited in the style of the popular video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.
The video, posted overnight Thursday Israel time on the administration’s official account, opens with a clip from the game showing a “killstreak,” a gameplay feature that rewards players who eliminate multiple opponents without being killed.
In the game, achieving 30 eliminations activates the feature and triggers a 10-second countdown to the end of the match, with the player’s team automatically declared the winner.
After the gaming footage, the video transitions to real-world images of U.S. strikes on targets in Iran. The clips are edited with point counters that appear each time a strike hits a target, mimicking the scoring system commonly seen in Call of Duty games.
It was not immediately clear whether Activision, the publisher of the Call of Duty franchise, or its parent company Microsoft, authorized the use of the game footage.
The use of video game imagery is not the first time the administration has incorporated pop culture references in official social media messaging.
In September, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security posted a video of immigration enforcement raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement set to the theme song from Pokémon and accompanied by the caption “Gotta Catch ’Em All.”
In another recruitment post, the department used an image from the video game Halo with the caption “Destroy the flood.”
The administration has previously faced criticism over the use of copyrighted material in political messaging.
Several artists, including Beyoncé, ABBA, The Smiths, Sabrina Carpenter and Foo Fighters, have objected to the use of their music in political campaigns or promotional videos linked to the administration and demanded that their songs no longer be used. In several cases, the music was subsequently removed.