I’ve been watching a lot of soccer over the past few weeks, and that means I’ve been watching quite a few television commercials for the first time since my arrival. Although Uruguay’s World Cup adverts can’t compete with, say, the robust absurdity of Kia’s Soul driving hamsters, they are rife with cultural value statements and the juggling — and subversion — of stereotypes.
In short: they are great fun to watch and deconstruct. “We won against South Africa 3-0. Now comes Mexico. What are you going to do to help La Celeste?” Never has an ice cream advertisement appealed to my patriotism with such ardor.
Another personal favorite is a Lays potato chip ad, one of a series featuring four goofy guys decked out in the color celeste. Uruguay scores, except amidst the guys’ frenzied cheering one realizes that his girlfriend is sitting on the coach, exasperated. “The goal doesn’t count” she says, shooting them down with a precise technical explanation that is echoed by the announcer a few seconds later. “Never go without women who know football,” says the voice-over. “Never go without Lays.”
On the one hand, it’s neat to have a positive depiction of a female fan, particularly given that her male companions are the focus of the ad campaign’s gentle ribbing. On the other hand, women very rarely play soccer in Uruguay. The women’s team hasn’t made it to the Women’s World Cup yet, and a Fulbright colleague’s adolescent daughter had the hardest time finding a recreational team. Viewing the ad cynically, its humor comes from the deep extent to which Uruguayan football is a “male” sport, although on the flip side if women are relegated to spectator status it makes perfect sense that they would be the rule experts. (Sometimes, I wonder if I’m overthinking this, and return to the first hand.)
“They say that we’re nostalgic…gray…half-hearted…conservative…austere….that we never go out…that we keep a low profile.” In 30 seconds OCA – “credit card of Uruguayans!” – trots out every stereotype about the Uruguayan character that I’ve heard from locals and expats alike. Except each of those adjectives is paired with an image to the contrary, from a crowd of hundreds rocking out at a concert venue, to a girl laden down with shopping bags, to a guy pausing mid-celebration to cheer at the camera before heading down a jubilant street with confetti all around. All tableaus I’ve seen since my arrival; when Uruguay won over Ghana in the quarter-finals, a spontaneous street parade commenced near my apartment that lasted well over four hours. Montevideo’s winter hues also brightened after the games with South Korea, Mexico, and South Africa.
The ad concludes: “They say many things about us, but what’s certain is that this place, we wouldn’t change for anything.” A pride of place and of common identity, and a precarious joy in exceeding expectations. How overtly the sentiment will linger in the coming weeks post-World Cup remains to be seen. Might have to leave the TV on.
Flora Lindsay-Herrera is currently a Fulbright Fellow in Montevideo, Uruguay. For more about her experiences, check out her blog.
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Interesting reading your view on all of this. Very similar in Mexico … lots and lots of patriotic world cup ads as well as mostly male-dominated commercials. Some were very funny, although they made me second-guess my laughter as a female.