Football has penetrated into our lives and conquered our hearts since long ago. Checking what’s up there in the media about our favorite league, team or player has become a part of our everyday routine, and giant companies’ marketers have tracked our weaknesses in the face of this fascinating sport. Several breathtaking commercials are being launched every year starring our favorite players. However, there are so many of those commercials circulating in the media that some of relatively older ones have been forgotten by the majority of the football fans. This article aims to bring to action the old excitement you had watching those commercials. Or, maybe you haven’t even seen them. In any case, they are worth watching.
- Good vs Evil (Nike, 1996)
The leading sports clothes and inventory brand Nike has been involving the best football players in its commercials before it became mainstream. The idea behind this ad is that some evil creatures landed on earth to destroy the beautiful game named football. And the players save their own game through kicking the ball. The “good” side team was comprised with all-star players at the time including Milan legend defender Paolo Maldini and Manchester United’s French star forward Eric Cantona. Football as a tool to save the beautiful and destroy the evil… It was something new for the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwq6QXvhXEY
- Airport ad (Nike, 1998)
Nike has been setting trends as it was the first in launching a commercial in airport. Nowadays, such commercials are all over the media, as the eastern airline companies are sponsoring the biggest football grands. One can simply recall Manchester United’s team commercial by Turkish Airlines or “FC Barcelona uniting the world” ad by Qatar Airlines, only a few to mention. However, Nike was the first (or one of the first) to put this idea in work. The commercial is starring Brazil national team, which eventually turned out to become the runners-up of domestic 1998 World Cup. Some experts argue that this team including players like Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo and Rivaldo, was the most equipped Brazilian team in terms of their physical skills. And that is exactly why this commercial looks so fascinating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbFmK4zZ9Ys
- Footballitis (Adidas, 2002)
Nike’s dominance in football commercials has been diluted by their biggest competitor Adidas from time to time. It seems like the best one by Adidas is the one called Footballitis. It is staring many football stars, including David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and even Pierluigi Collina, UEFA head of referees, and one of the best football judges at the time. Footballitis is represented to be a disease infecting people and that results in constant desire to do football simulated moves. Stupid? If it seems stupid, but works, it is not stupid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5kCY_SbjXU
- The Cage (Nike, 2002)
If the actors of this commercial where not rich and famous football players, some human rights activists would have been deeply concerned about its content. The idea is that football players are closed in a cage, and their game is a kind of an experiment watched by Eric Cantona. With not much background about why it is done, this video turns out to be extremely entertaining for a football fan. Beautiful skills are entertaining in whatever facilities the marketers bring to us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TXPI7Vur1Y
- “My” Pepsi commercial (Pepsi, 2008)
This is the most recent commercial of the selection, being one of the most popular commercials at the time. The uniqueness of this ad in particular is the fact of introducing a football fan’s character playing alongside to the world class players like Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and others. This is a commercial which summarizes all the other football commercials from a fan’s point of view. Fun, interesting, football involving and simply awesome. Let’s watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11Hm5yjZVVM
BONUS: Football Warriors (Pepsi, 2004)
Instead of a long and uninteresting conclusion for this selection, I would like to present you a bonus video. This commercial has not been involved in my selection of the greatest forgotten ads, because I do not think that any football fan could have forgotten this awesome video including best football players grouped in David Beckham’s HISTORICAL team.
Enjoy!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxH5-E7gfk
