Messi vs. Ronaldo – Louis Vuitton lands viral hit

Louis Vuitton has landed a viral hit with a new advertising campaign. A photo shows soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi playing chess. While experts joke, sports fans suspect a fake behind the picture.

Two star soccer players play chess together and it feels like half the world is going crazy. Longtime rivals Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo pose together for a photo of luxury brand Louis Vuitton. Since then, the picture went viral and both fans and chess experts did not hesitate to criticize the advertising campaign.

Louis Vuitton: That’s behind the chess photo with Messi and Ronaldo

The picture in question was taken as part of a campaign by the French luxury brand to mark the start of the 2022 World Cup. Messi and Ronaldo are sitting together over one impromptu game of chess bent.

The game pieces are not on a board, but on a checkered Vuitton suitcase. This in turn is on a chest – also from Luis Vuitton. The players, meanwhile, wear smart and understated gray sweaters and jeans. Ronaldo’s parting is perfect.

Luxury brand uses famous chess game

But not only celebrities sit in front of the camera. There is also a star behind the camera. Because the photo was taken by the renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz.

Even the scene’s chess game, which Messi and Ronaldo seem to be engrossed in, is well known. It is the game played in 2017 in Stavanger, Norway, between world champion Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura.

Louis Vuitton promotional photo goes viral

Louis Vuitton’s advertising campaign is entitled “Victory is a State of Mind”. With this slogan, Ronaldo posted the photo on November 20, 2022 on his Instagram profile. Probably also thanks to its 500 million followers, the picture quickly went viral.

On the Louis Vuitton Instagram profile, the photo received about five million likes. It was even liked over 36 million times on Ronaldo’s account.

Messi vs. Ronaldo: Chess professionals speak up

Of course, an image with this scope immediately draws voices from all sides onto the scene. Magnus Carlsen commented on the campaign Twitter for example with the words: “The second greatest rivalry of our time imitates the greatest.”

Football fans suspect fake

Soccer fans have one too theory to the photo shoot. Because Louis Vuitton also published a video that gives a glimpse behind the scenes.

The realization of the fans: In the video, Ronaldo and Messi are never really in the picture together. The photo of the two footballers is just a montage. Twitter user @WalidBusquets comments on the whole thing, saying, “Yeah, so they weren’t actually in the same room.”

However, whether the photo was really only put together afterwards remains only a guess. There is no proof of the authenticity of the photo. And the fashion brand itself has not yet commented on it.

It is only striking that the video can no longer be found at Louis Vuitton. Whether genuine or not, the photo probably served its purpose and drew attention to the Louis Vuitton brand.

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