It may be hard to have sympathy for an operation that employs a multitude of creepy clowns but the people who make their living under the big top are insulted by people describing the 2016 presidential election as “a circus.” The Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus is launching it’s own campaign to “take back the circus.”

On Monday, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey launched a new campaign titled “The Circus Wants The Circus Back.” The goal: to get rid of the negative association the presidential election has brought to the words “circus” and ‘clowns.”

“Everyone from the media to the public to politicians to even President Barack Obama himself have repeatedly called the 2016 Presidential Election a circus or referred to the candidates as clowns,” Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Presents Out Of This World Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson said in a press release. “These comparisons need to stop! We want to #TakeBackTheCircus to where it belongs, to the real circus, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.”

This is pretty brilliant marketing scheme. Ride the election hype to bigger box office sales.

P.T. Barnum would be proud. Although he would probably be proud of the two major candidates for their masterful exploitation of his “a sucker born every minute” aphorism.

But seriously, the negative associate with “clowns?” That’s not going away any time soon.