Viral ad featuring Ivanka Trump, Obama on Las Vegas Strip billboard wasn't really there

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Countless companies of all kinds take full advantage of the high-profile Consumer Electronics Show that comes to Las Vegas every year, using the event to advertise new products, entice investors and excite the consumer.

On Tuesday, Jan. 7, one company did just this, looking to capitalize on Ivanka Trump’s presence and keynote talk at the event in a rather unusual way.

A video surfaced on Twitter, followed by photos, just after 11:00 a.m. of what appeared to be an ad on a billboard above the entrance to the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort.

However, as the man who paid only $25 for the stunt confirms, the ad actually never existed at all.

Louis Anslow is the "re-imagineer" behind Rewound, the app being featured in the advertisement, and he explained, “It seemed like an appropriate place to promote and announce the Android app. Can’t afford a booth at CES, and so how do you get some attention for the project when you’re competing with Samsung and Huawei and these other big billion-dollar companies? Do something provocative, sudden, amusing.”

The app is a nostalgia trip back to the 2000s era MP3 players like the iPod, giving users the ability to transform their smartphone into one of those simple devices in the days of old that only played downloaded music.

The app, which got a lot of attention worldwide, was pulled shortly after its release in December from the app store by Apple, the company saying the app could be mistaken for one of its own products.

Now, due for a return on Google Play for Android users, Anslow needed to make a splash.

“I could spend like five-, ten-grand on a billboard. And then the only place it would really be seen is on Twitter anyway. So it’s like, well maybe it’s better to just spend $25 and see if the video picks up traction on Twitter, and it did. Here we are,” he said.

Anslow admits that, while he’s not a Trump fan, the ad was not an act of activism but rather of attention-seeking. Ironically, he said that he watched Trump’s talk at CES and liked it.

Rewound is available on the Google Play app for pre-register and is expected to have a full release in the coming months.

In the meantime, Anslow says he’s working on another app that will allow users to rate their landlords, which he plans to bring to Nevada, and it might involve another “ad” like the one Tuesday.

As for the hoax outside the Miracle Mile Shops, the mall sent News 3 the following statement:

"We can confirm that this did NOT air on the Miracle Mile Shops screens or anywhere else on the property. It looks to be computer-generated and not real."