The Women's World Cup has begun, and sponsors have been going all out with special advertisements. Two of the top commercials to air so far have come from the U.S. and France, respectively.
One is about a banana peel, a 24-year "nap" and a hellish fever dream about American soccer greats in 2023. The other is about the French national team, digitally disguised as the men's team, making stunning plays that have been overshadowed.
Here's what you need to know about these cool ads. Prepare for chills.
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The video opens with a dad and his daughter teetering on the edge of their couch as they watch to see whether Brandi Chastain will make history. When she does and the U.S. becomes the 1999 champion, the father-daughter duo jumps up and goes crazy. The dad attempts to rip his shirt off like Chastain but slips on a random banana peel, falling flat on his back and getting tangled in a '90s corded phone.
We take a rainbow journey through the speaker of the phone and then come out the other end. A soccer ball hits a very aged version of the father upside his head. As the screen reads "24 years later . . .", he bolts up from his hospital-type bed, seemingly awakening from a coma, and screams, "Did we win?!"
The daughter, who has also aged, looks at him confused, but says yes. "We're going for a fifth [title]," she says.
She goes on to gush about Sophia Smith's skill and how the States can't rule out England with their firepower in Chloe Kelly. She rushes to explain to her father about the updates to the world as we know it in 2023, highlighting key players from across the globe in funny ways.
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The video slows down as Chastain shows up at his front door, holding a cake that says, "Congrats on waking up!" She asks how his nap was and he stares back, starstruck, as she kicks a ball between his legs and says, "Still got it" with a wink.
The father faints on the couch with a piece of cake in his hands and the daughter sits down next to him, confirming the chaos. "I know it's a lot to process, Dad, and I don't want to overwhelm you, but . . . " she says, going further into detail about other top players, like Alex Morgan making the hardest plays look effortless, and calling Megan Rapinoe the new American hero.
It ends with the daughter handing him his granddaughter. As he shouts "What the —?!", the granddaughter claps and says, "Football!"
Genius.
Orange France's Women's World Cup ad breaking the internet
Telecom company Orange's French division went above and beyond in its ad around this year's FIFA event. The viral video displays stunning goals scored by the French national team. What viewers don't know until the end is that the video has been digitally altered.
Throughout the video — titled "Les actions folles de l'equipe de France qu'on a tous oubliées" — the viewer sees plays being made by what is assumed to be the men's team.
Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Kingsley Coman are shown launching rockets into the back of opponents' nets. There's the occasional cut to fans in crowded bars going crazy with emotion. In the background, the announcers are going wild.
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And then it stops, the screen reading: "Il n'y a que les Bleus pour nous procurer ces émotions. Pourtant, ce n'est pas eux que vous venez de voir."
The video rewinds, going back to the beginning to expose the ploy: it wasn't the men's national team at all; it was the women's team. Screen-recorded digital alterations are shown in real time; they turn Sakina Karchaoui into Griezmann, Estelle Cascarino into Mbappe and Selma Bacha into Coman and back again, flawlessly.
The message continues: "Chez Orange, on soutient les Bleus." A cursor comes onto the screen, shifting the "s" in "Bleus" one space to the right to make room for an "e," creating the feminine conjugation and referring to the women's national team.
Goosebumps.
English translation
"The crazy actions of the French team that we have all forgotten"
"There are only the Blues to provide us with these emotions /
Yet it's not them you just saw /
At Orange, we support the Blues"
