World Cup Memories #4

by Chris Oakley

And now a different sort of World Cup memory. We go back to the summer of 1998. People all over the world are gearing up for the Finals to be held in France and on their way from South America are the Brazilians.

Any true football fan finds no difficulty in conjuring up images of those yellow-shirted maestros and their amazing silky skills, but Nike obviously thought we needed some help.

So to publicise their new range of sports apparel, they created a fabulous TV commercial featuring the stars of the Brazilian team playing football in and around an airport.

It was inspired. We may not have all rushed out in our droves buying Nike t-shirts, but many of us did allow a broad smile to break out on our face as we watched Ronaldo and co. playing the fools in a non-footballing environment.

Sadly, like the end of the advert, Brazil's luck ran out in the 1998 World Cup Final, losing 3-0 to the host country, yet with a raft of similar adverts showing football stars doing their thing following on in its wake ever since, who's to say this advert wasn't a success in it's own right? I loved it then, and it's just as good when you watch it now.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1857284069598884079&q=nike+brazil