The White House’s use of pop-culture memes to project military bravado in its Iran campaign is facing growing backlash, with celebrities criticising the posts and social media users responding with a wave of mocking counter-memes.

From Spongebob to Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto, the US’s gamification of its continuing attacks in West Asia are frequently displayed on the White House social media pages, mixing real Iran war visuals with footage from video games, Hollywood characters and superheroes.

The imagery of mass destruction is often paired with AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, with captions of the likes of ‘JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY.’

With images from Top Gun, Gladiator, Braveheart and Iron Man, the White House meme factory seems to claim these superheroes as agents of American victory in Operation Epic Fury.

A Reuters report from March 7 highlights a narrator declaring “we’re winning this fight.”

The videos and memes have drawn scrutiny from actors Ben Stiller and Steve Downes, reported the Associated Press.

Stiller said that the material from his 2008 film Tropic Thunder were repurposed for war rhetoric without his permission and called for its removal.

“No interest in being a part of your propaganda machine. War is not a movie,” Stiller wrote on X.

Downes called the depiction of his film Halo, “disgusting and juvenile war porn.”

“I did not participate in nor was I consulted, nor do I endorse the use of my voice in this video, or the message it conveys,” he stated.

Several NFL players slammed the Trump administration for the use of footage from their athletic feats. Retired receiver Kenny Bell told The Washington Post, “For that play to be associated with bombing human beings makes me sick.”

Former Tampa Bay linebacker Mason Foster said, “It’s a strange feeling, seeing those clips like that.”

Anti-Trump meme pages on X started posting their own counter-memes, satirising the memes of the White House. One user wrote in a meme template, "Wake up honey, the White House is cringe-posting again."

The backlash has reached the Catholic Church too.

Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich said, “Our government is treating the suffering of the Iranian people as a backdrop for our own entertainment, as if it’s just another piece of content to be swiped through while we’re waiting in line at the grocery store,” reported AP.

Cupich said in a weekend statement. “But, in the end, we lose our humanity when we are thrilled by the destructive power of our military.