The Worst Advert in Super Bowl History 😬
Plus, a break down of the most interesting stories from this week.
Welcome to Athletic Interest.
Yesterday, we sent out a poll to our YouTube audience asking people to choose their favourite part of the Super Bowl.
A similar (but maybe slightly more scientific) poll in America found that 19% of Super Bowl viewers consider the ads to be the best part.
It’s, therefore, no surprise that many of the adverts shown during the Super Bowl are similar to short films, with big-name celebrities, elaborate storylines, and impressive budgets.
Over the years, Jason Statham has appeared for Audi, Bryan Cranston (as Walter White) for Popcorners, and Laurence Fishburne for Kia.
While many ads are well received, some have aged like milk.
Take this advert from last year for the crypto exchange FTX:
It shows Larry David at different points in history being dismissive of some of the greatest inventions ever made. It ends with David being skeptical towards Crypto and FTX while arguing that he is good at predicting these things.
12 months later, it turns out that the only invention that FTX had any similarity with was the toilet, as they were both full of crap.
But not all Super Bowl ads have such a troubled legacy. Here are our top three favourites:
Old Spice has become famous for its weird advertising, but this Super Bowl spot from 2010 is where it all began.
In second place is this ad from German carmaker VW. The heartwarming story of a young kid finding his powers remains one of the most shared adverts in Super Bowl history and has been watched more than 50 million times across YouTube.
And in the first place, we have arguably one of the greatest adverts of all time. This 1984-inspired ad, directed by Ridley Scott, has influenced generations of marketers and is seen by many as the symbolic beginning of a new technological revolution in the world of computing.
⚽️ Talking of groundbreaking moments, Manchester United could soon be sold to Qatar.
According to the Daily Mail, a group of prominent Qatari investors is preparing a large bid for United that ‘will blow rivals away.’
The Glazers are said to want more than £6 billion for the club, while the consortium is reportedly also ready to invest in a new or updated stadium and the best players on the market.
The prospect of heavy investment and new owners has excited many United fans, and they are not alone.
The stock price for Man United jumped around 10% after the news of the potential bid was released.
But before everyone gets carried away, there is one thing to consider.
The phrase ‘prominent Qatari investor’ usually suggests membership in the Qatari Royal family or deep connections to the government. While no names have been revealed, it’s worth noting that the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is reportedly a big United fan.
The problem here is that the Qatari state already owns PSG. Under UEFA rules, two teams cannot have the same owner if they face each other in competition. PSG and United are regular competitors in the Champions League, making ownership of both teams by Qatar impossible.
Even if some of the members of this consortium do have links to the government or PSG, there is a belief that the UEFA rule will not prevent a takeover.
The main argument is that PSG is owned by ‘Qatar Sports Investments’ which is the investment arm of the Qatari government. The United bid meanwhile, will be launched by a completely new fund with no direct links to QSI.
It will be up to UEFA and the Premier League to determine if, in reality, these two funds can be considered separate from one another.
🏖 From bidding on a football club to bidding on a bottle of sand.
Just moments after Tom Brady released this video to announce that he is 100% retiring, some fans tracked down his location and bottled the sand he was standing on.
These bottles are now available to buy on Ebay, with some of the bids hitting more than $13k.
According to the seller, this is an opportunity to purchase a piece of sporting history.
“You will find no other listing like this,” explains the product description. “No one else took a sample on Feb 1st after the GOAT posted his real retirement. You will be owning the very land the GOAT retired on.”
🏀 That wasn’t the only opportunity to be involved in sporting history this week.
When Lebron James and the LA Lakers took on Oklahoma City Thunder, Lebron was within a few points of becoming the NBA’s all-time point scorer.
Thousands packed the arena in anticipation, with some tickets changing hands for $75k on the resale market.
When the historic moment finally came, most people took out their phones to record. There was one notable exception…
A truly iconic photo for 2023.
😳 While Phil Knight got some great PR this week, Bayern Munich star Matthijs de Ligt suffered from an unfortunate social media fail.
His social media team wanted to celebrate Bayern’s victory against Wolfsburg with a tweet.
Unfortunately, the person handling the account must also represent Italian keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and accidentally posted the tweet on Donnarumma’s account instead.
The error was quickly fixed, but still caught the attention of Twitter users, who proceeded to mock the unfortunate mix-up and even took the time to add their own favourite player social media fails.