This Messi AI World Cup marketing campaign misunderstands what soccer followers really love
Lionel Messi is, without doubt, a living legend of the beautiful game. The striker was the star player of the Argentina team that won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Beloved by fans and admired by fellow players around the world, he’s a popular and likeable personality, who many consider to be the greatest footballer of all time.
That popularity is what OpenAI must have been looking to harness when it signed Messi up to help promote ChatGPT ahead of this year’s World Cup, which is taking place across Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to have had much idea what to do with him; or at least that’s the impression I got from the company’s latest Instagram reel:
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Apparently, Messi is going to “explore how AI can help fans experience football in new ways throughout the tournament season.” So, this first clip of him discovering that ChatGPT can make his hair look like the colors of his home country’s flag is only the beginning of his journey into corporate AI brand promotion.
AI companies, like many companies that have very quickly turned into global consumer brands, can feel oddly disconnected from the culture they’re trying to enter when they produce marketing. None of this really feels like it has much to do with football or football fans.
The text accompanying the Instagram post states: “Upload your photo then copy and paste this prompt: ‘Make my hair the colors of my country flag but keep it natural-looking. If no country or image is provided, ask.'”
So, the idea is that you can join in and try this yourself.
Looking through the comments, it’s clear the campaign has caught plenty of people off guard. The first comment is “Wait.. what?”, while another asks “How did they convince him to do this 😭😭😭😭”.
Most fans would probably be happier actually wearing their country’s colors
I think the ad misunderstands why people follow football in the first place. Football (or soccer, for American readers) fandom is tribal, emotional, irrational, and deeply human. OpenAI’s pitch is essentially: “Use AI to imagine yourself wearing your country’s colors.”
Most fans would probably be happier actually wearing their country’s colors.
Using ChatGPT for this feels detached from how real supporters actually behave. Before a match, fans gather in pubs and bars, wear their team’s shirts, paint their faces, argue about team selections, sing songs, and obsess over tactics. Is anybody really sitting around thinking: “I wish I had an AI-generated version of myself with hair that looks like my national flag”?
Maybe some people will enjoy it. That’s fine. But if this campaign is meant to demonstrate how AI can deepen our connection to football, it feels like an odd way to start.
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