THE CURSE OF THE NIKE ADD
Wieden + Kennedy's flashy "Write the Future" spot for the World Cup was great fun to watch, but most of the talk now is about how it might have cursed the players it featured-particularly its six major stars.
Let's go to the replay:
Didier Drogba: broke his arm, Ivory Coast eliminated
Fabio Cannavaro: captained underwhelming Italy, which was eliminated
Wayne Rooney: didn't score, England eliminated
Franck Ribéry: French team imploded and were then eliminated
Ronaldinho: Didn't even make the Brazilian team
Cristiano Ronaldo: scored once, Portugal eliminated
Others include the US' Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, beaten by ghana; England's theo walcott who didnt even make the team, Iniesta suffered a knock right before the world cup, pique has been bloodied numerous times already and cesc fabregas is a victim of the bench (though deserves to come on against the ineffective torres).
Clearly, the less optimistic futures these players envisioned in the spot were the correct ones. It remains to be seen whether Rooney, in particular, will now grow a beard and live in a trailer. (The previously fictitious headline "England In Roo-Ins," from the commercial, did make its way to the top of at least one real media story.)
Perhaps due to its sudden lack of endorsers left in the tournament, Nike has rolled out the new spot below, starring Brazil's Robinho, who leads his team in shots with 10, has scored a goal and whose team managed to make the quarterfinals.
UPDATE: Continuing the curse, Roger Federer lost today at Wimbledon. Bucking the trend are two other cameo stars from the ad: Kobe Bryant, whose L.A. Lakers won the NBA Finals, and Homer Simpson, who was recently named the greatest TV character of the past 20 years.