07 June 2006

Clean and ready



I went into the centre of Berlin today for the first time since the countdown to the World Cup has got to the James Bond-runs-in-and-stops-the-bomb stage. Berlin's suddenly become clean and tidy! Parts of the city centre that had building site stuff all around is now clear of that: there's brushed pavements, blasted-clean walls of old buildings, flags declaring Berlin a WM Stadt (World Cup city). I smelled fresh paint on two seperate occasions.

I also saw the above advert for Coca Cola: Welcome to Germany (Excludes Our Penalty Box).

Our.

Is there anything as blatantly cynical in its approach as an American superpowered company like Coca Cola pretending that it's a part of the home nation of this World Cup? That this entity will be sat there on the sofa cheering along Klinsmann's team with Mutti und Papa?
I know; I shouldn't be shocked by this, should I?

3 Comments:

Anonymous Dongowski said...

Well, Coca Cola already kidnapped our Weihnachtsmann and turned him into a zombie wearing a red coat with fur linings. So why not steal our Fußball? Or our World Cup titles? The whole World Cup has been turned into a gigantic marketing fad, so it was about time they rewrote history.

07 June, 2006 17:52  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A US company backing Fussball is a ridiculous combination from the start...(in just about any nation) - but then ad campaigns are not supposed to tell you about the real world, do they?

Just close your eyes for four weeks and it'll all be back to normal - dirty streets included!

Cheers

Alex

08 June, 2006 07:49  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.killercoke.org/

check it out!

09 June, 2006 20:53  

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