Recommended
Well, the whole shebang kicks off tomorrow with South Africa v Mexico, and we'll all be glued to the box. In the best spirit of redundancy here's the best World Cup ads I could find.
This has been posted before, but it really is a good ad for the competition. Hey, even Bono says it's okay not to worry about the world's problems and just veg out in front of the tv. Thanks Bono, for a minute there I was going to solve world hunger, but I'll wait till after the World Cup.
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Next is Australia's slightly racist ad, which implies that to prepare for going to Africa they should train against all manner of wild animals. Also, Craig Moore's grin is a bit creepy.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V_ie_VPxx8[/youtube]
This year's Nike campaign is one of their best, from serious director Alejandro Inarritu of depressing films 21 Grams and Amores Perros fame. Apparently it cost over two million dollars, and you can really see the production values. Highlights for me are failed Rooney's scraggly beard and succesful Cannavaro's variety show life.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idLG6jh23yE[/youtube]
Adidas' campaign is, quite frankly, one of the most bizarre pieces of advertising I have ever seen. Only tenuously connected to the world cup by the sandwich board at the beginning, it combines Daft Punk, the cantina scene from A New Hope, overacting from Snoop Dog and stone faced lack of acting from David Beckham. I don't if it's great or just stupid, but they certainly took a novel approach.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zd_khk6zXo[/youtube]
Mars' campaign is an odd one, featuring John Barnes reprising his magnificent World In Motion rap twenty years on. Barnes is shaven headed and portly now, and a far cry from the picture of virility he was in 1990. Even his nipples are discreetly tucked away now. But the rap is pretty much the same, so it's still a thumbs up from me.
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FNB are one of the major South African sponsors of the World Cup, and this ad takes a very defensive approach. There were a lot of worries that South Africa wouldn't be ready on time, and that the infrastructure isn't there. Time will tell on that front, but this ad has an Australian bitching out a South African who has the temerity to voice his concerns, to applause from onlookers. I guess it's confronting the issue head on, but it's certinly unusual for a world cup ad to be anything other than super positive.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjPazSFQrwA[/youtube]
This isn't an ad obviously, but it's the best South African rap I've heard this year. It's Die Antwoord. Why couldn't they have been tapped for the World Cup song, instead of noted non South Africans Shakira and R. Kelly?
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