On Tuesday, Egypt revealed the 2018 World Cup airplane sparking frenzied criticism on social media over the state-owned mobile operator’s excessive branding, which dominated the paintwork.
“These are not the colors of the Egyptian national team… I feel like this is the airplane of WE’s team,” said Osman Badran, founder of Brand Bees advertising agency, in a Facebook video post that was shared over 600 times.
Badran also criticized the quality of team photos and their placement, noting that some key members, like Goalkeeper Hadari and Coach Cooper, were sidelined.
“Having a branded airplane for our national football team is something we should all be proud of, but it has to be done right for Egypt’s image,” said Badran.
World Cup 2014 Airplanes
Most countries are yet to reveal their national team airplanes, but here is a look at some of the 2014 World Cup planes. Germany’s Lufthansa went for a simple, elegant design while changing its name temporarily to Fanhasa. Air Berlin also changed its name to Fan Force One, mimicking Air Force One, which carries the president of the United States.
Twitter shares the same opinion
هي الطيارة ليه اغلبها لونه موڤ we !!
هي الطيارة بتاعت we و لا طيارة منتخب مصر !!! https://t.co/xeN8UA9g7d— GimY (@MgimyD) March 20, 2018
طيارة المنتخب دي اللي عامل الديزاين بتاعها أكيد نفس الشخص اللي كاتب إعلانات المصرية للاتصالات بتاعت كريم عبعزيز، و هو في الأغلب مركّب طقم نيكل ع الفوانيس و المرايات و مقابض الابواب ف عربيته
— كريم مدحت (@kareem_medhat) March 20, 2018
اللي اعرفه ان طيارة المنتخب دي identity للمنتخب مش للراعي. إيه علاقة اللون الموڤ بمنتخب مصر ؟
الأهم مكنتوش عارفين تعملوا photo session وتجيبوا صور نضيفه شوية بدل الصور اللي جايبينها من Google دي؟! جايبين صورة الحضري من سنة 2010 وهو لابس پوما وإحنا أصلاً الراعي بتاعنا أديداس !— Adel Koraiem (@adelkoraiem) March 19, 2018
Thoughts!
Reporting by Ahmed Maher; Editing by Sara El-Khalili
