Watch the Viral French World Cup Ad | Video
Fans Can't Get Enough of This Viral French World Cup Ad
It's a grossly misguided yet common sentiment among football fans and officials alike that the men's game is more entertaining and skillful than the women's. Even the England Lionesses wrote to the UK government to call for equal access to football in school PE lessons to push for more equality in the sport.
Thankfully, a new French ad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup found the perfect way to disprove that misconception. The ad was created by a Bastille-based creative agency named Marcel for French telecom company Orange and released in late June, and it has since gone viral on TikTok as fans react to the genius way it faced the myth head-on.
The video starts out with a compilation of video clips showing the French men's national team in action on the football pitch, including fancy footwork, speedy manoeuvers, and impressive goals. The video spotlights players Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé set to building music and edge-of-your-seat announcing from French commentators.
Then, the game video stops and a text card appears on screen, reading, "Only les Bleus can give us these emotions," using the country's nickname for the French men's national team, "But that's not them you've just seen." The video then scrubs backward to reveal that the match clips were actually of women's players; the men's faces and bodies were digitally overlayed using visual effects to create a deepfake. Those moments of prowess on the field weren't the French men's team, but the women's.
At the end, another text card appears, reading, "At Orange, when we support les Bleus, we support les Bleues," the latter being the nickname for the French women's national team.
"This is how you get people, a nation, behind your team," says Lauren Markwith, a football commentator and social media manager, in a TikTok video sharing the ad. "Obviously, France did phenomenal in the men's [2022] World Cup, but the women are also powerhouses. . . at the beginning, I was like, ugh, another men's commercial, right before the World Cup, but just watch . . . I literally have like goosebumps," she adds at the end — and, same.
Replying to @4aani #greenscreenvideo This is how you promote women’s soccer. #womenssoccer #worldcup #france
As the Lionesses head into the 2023 FIFA World Cup with a chance at snagging their first World Cup win, the momentum around women's sports seems to be reaching a fever pitch. This ad out of France proves that the hype goes beyond UK soil, too. In fact, this year's Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is poised to be the biggest ever, with CBS already reporting record-breaking ticket sales for this year's tournament, and the prize money being significantly higher than ever before.
There's still a long way to go as far as equality is concerned (that record-high prize money is still a fraction of the men's), but this genius French ad is doing a solid part in helping us get there.
