Soccer fans are buzzing about a Women’s World Cup ad featuring French men’s superstars Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann…or so it seems at first.
In Orange Communications’ campaign aimed at challenging people’s perceptions of women’s soccer, the two-minute ad appears to show a display of magical soccer skills from diving headers to curling free kicks by Mbappe, Griezmann and others.
Then comes the evolution.
The message says: “Just Les Blues It can give us these feelings. But these are not the ones I just saw.”
The footage is returned and the VFX editing process is revealed, showing that the skills and goals are in fact all of the France women’s players including Sakina Kerchaoui and Salma Pasha.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (US)
“Totally fooled me. Great ad,” one fan wrote on Reddit, while a Twitter user called it “the French ad that blew our minds.”
France, fifth in the FIFA rankings, open their World Cup campaign when they take on Jamaica on Sunday 23 July.
