Despite winning against arch rivals Man Utd almost a week ago, Man City fans can celebrate in style. The 6-1 score line wasn’t the only talking point from the game. A certain Mr Balotelli again grabbed the headlines, this time with a message on his t-shirt of all things.
‘Super Mario’ scored the first goal of the game as he calmly slotted the ball home and had a celebration to match. He revealed a message that read ‘Why Always Me?’. It wasn’t before long #whyalwaysme? began trending on Twitter.
Although Man City have a ton of money to spend, they’re still a business and can see an opportunity to make some pocket money. They’ve decided to make an official t-shirt to cash in on the incident. The official kit makers Umbro have also jumped on the bandwagon amongst numerous websites. The Umbro limited edition t-shirt sold out by late afternoon, showing the potential of the controversial Italian striker.
At the first game since the infamous derby win, scores of Man City fans could proudly be seen donning replica shirts. With Carlos Tevez receiving a cool £200,000 a week, how else are they going to pay the extravagant wages?
It’s not the first time a replica t-shirt has been made in his honour. When asked to where a ‘I love MCR’ shirt, he added ‘City’. It seems his fashion statements generate a large amount of media coverage – a marketers dream.
Image Via The Telegraph
It poses the question, could Mario Balotelli be a sponsor’s dream? Is he the next David Beckham? Is a clothing label on the cards? Maybe not, he once sported a ridiculous chicken hat. However, it did get people talking, not only in football circles but on fashion websites too. It prompted 48 pages on the subject and some companies did make replicas.
There must be a company willing to take a punt and exploit the amount of attention he gets, whether it’s good or bad.
For example, this year he is the face of a fireworks safety campaign after the media covered the story of him setting of fireworks from his bathroom window, in the process creating a fire in his home. The campaign gained more coverage as journalists reported on this too.
Unfortunately, we won’t be seeing any more on field t-shirt antics, Mario suggests, as he would get booked every game for lifting his shirt to reveal a message. Sad really, I was looking forward to more grammatically incorrect slogans from the unpredictable Mr. Balotelli.
Do you think he could be the next David Beckham? Tell us in the comments section below.
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October 28, 2023
celebrity