The Curse of the Nike Ad
Cristiano Ronaldo in Nike's "Write the Future" ad. Image via Nike Football.
They were supposed to have been heroes – honoured with knighthood, immortalized in statues, and have babies named after them.
Unfortunately for the players that starred in Nike’s “Write the Future” ad, they will all be heading home from South Africa on an early flight – if they made it there in the first place.
Call it the Curse of the Nike ad.
Notable names in the ad which had “field action” include Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba, Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro, England’s Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott, France’s Franck Ribery, Brazil’s Ronaldinho, and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
They either got injured prior to the World Cup, failed to make their squads, or were booted out early. England was trashed 4-1 by Germany in the 2nd round. Italy could not get their gears running, while France imploded spectacularly. Both failed to make it out of their relatively easy groups.
Even Roger Federer, shown chasing ping pong balls against Rooney, ran out of luck in Wimbledon, getting knocked out in the quarter-finals.
About the only “successful” star is basketball player Kobe Bryant. Kobe recently won his fifth NBA title.
Update 03 July 2010: On Tuesday, Nike released another “Write the Future” version, this time featuring a stand-alone Robinho. Barely days later, Robinho scored for Brazil against Holland, but they were knocked out 2-1.
The adidas ad, on the other hand, although with less fanfare than Nike’s, seem to be kinder to its players. Both Leo Messi (Argentina) and David Villa (Spain) have played starring roles for their teams so far, and they still have a chance of lifting the World Cup.
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should we do our on little ad then?
as of today, out of the 6 countries left
netherlands is wearing nike
paraguay, germany, spain, argentina are wearing adidas
uruguay is wearing puma
unfortunately only one adidas wearing country will make it to the final
so is it going to be adidas vs nike or adidas vs puma in the final?