A French advertisement for the Women’s World Cup has gone viral for its unique way of promoting the sport: with men.
The two minute ad was launched by French telecom company Orange and features high-profile male players from the country’s national football team, Les Bleus. Or so it seems.
Viewers watch an intense game with dramatic background music, a roaring crowd and commentators that sound like they are on the edge of their seats for almost a minute before it is revealed they have been tricked.
“Only Les Bleus can give us these emotions. But that’s not them you’ve just seen,” text on the screen reads.
It is then revealed it is actually footage of Les Bleues women’s players and the entire thing is a deepfake.
“At Orange, when we support les Bleus, we support les Bleues,” the ad concludes.
Australian retired soccer player Craig Foster is one of many impressed people around the world who have shared the ad on social media.
“Football is football. Sport is sport. End of story. Get into sport played by women, and the phenomenal athletes in the @FIFAWWC [FIFA Women’s World Cup],” he wrote on Twitter.
Others have declared the ad “genius” and “the best commercial ever”.
“This is how you get a country to start caring about your sport,” one soccer fan on TikTok said in a video with more than 240,000 views.
“It’s the best ad I’ve seen anywhere put out for their women’s team … They are super, super fun to watch and what a great way to get people on board who maybe think women’s soccer is not going to be as exciting or as interesting.”
A video of the ad posted by the company on YouTube has had almost 5 million views.
“Amazing idea, I had shivers watching that, even though I already knew what will happen,” one person commented.
“Genius, as an advertising student this is the kind of work I aspire to create in the future,” said another.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off in New Zealand and Australia on Thursday night.
France are scheduled to play Jamaica on Sunday at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium.