The players of FC Barcelona are portrayed in advertisements across Barcelona and the world. From Turkish Airlines to Kentucky Fried Chicken to clothing and eyewear, players endorse countless products and use their celebrity to promote many different things.
This Turkish Airlines advertisement claims their service is “the best” and associates Messi’s (as well as Kobe Bryant’s) athletic prowess with the excellent service of their airline. They encourage the public to “fly with the best” and insinuate that if these celebrities find their services to be the best, normal, non-celebrity people will as well.
Similarly, in this KFC advertisement, Messi’s skills and talent are associated with the KFC brand. The advertisement claims that KFC chicken is the best in the world and the choice of the world’s best soccer player, Lionel Messi.
Neymar for Police eyewear
This advertisement shows Neymar promoting a eyewear brand. This advertisement and the product have nothing to do with soccer but Neymar’s popularity and celebrity status are still used to promote the product and sell eyewear. People in Barcelona and across the world look up to these players and want to be like them, which makes them the ideal people to market a product.
This advertisement for Replay jeans illustrates another way FC Barcelona players are marketed to the public. In this ad, Neymar and other players are shown in a sexual way and their images are matched with those of scantily clad women and provocative dancing. The company is using their celebrity to promote their jeans and is sexualizing their bodies as a way to sell their product.
Messi for Dolce & Gabana
In this advertisement, Messi is even more sexualized than the players in the last. This is an advertisement for Dolce & Gabana underwear, however Messi’s bare body is being shown and marketed just as much as (if not more than) the small underwear he wears. Dolce & Gabana is making Messi a sexual object to promote their product and draw attention to their advertisement. The media constantly sexualizes celebrities and the FC Barcelona players are no exception. They are celebrated for their athletic bodies in the media and marketed to the public as sexual objects in order to sell products.
FC Barcelona and Identity in Catalunya 