Commercials featuring professional athletes are all the same these days
Cue up the lights to show off Popular Athlete in uniform performing preferred athletic activity. Cut to Popular Athlete in uniform using Product. Show Popular Athlete in uniform performing preferred athletic activity even better after using Product, and call it a day.
To be fair, this commercial featuring Lionel Messi has a lot of those elements. He plays the popular athlete in his respective team's uniform, but he's only playing what is probably his second-most preferred sport — basketball!
Now, there's a lot of editing happening here, and it's not as if Messi is playing against anyone impressive, let alone draining shots on the no-name standing across from him. But there are two things that stand out.
First, getting to see any athlete handle the equipment from a sport they don't play is mesmerizing. It seems to be a true indicator of whether that person is generally talented or if their gift is sport specific. For Messi, it certainly looks sport-specific. If it wasn't, he wouldn't need all the editing to make it look like he hit a single shot.
And second, what is with his footwear? At the start of the ad, Messi is clearly lacing up cleats. Regardless of whether he actually has spikes or if he's wearing indoor cleats, those shoes are wholly inadequate for a game of basketball. He's entitled to wear whatever he wants, but a sprained ankle is almost guaranteed in those things.
Check out Messi's attempt at basketball in the video below.
