Back Passes: A Women’s World Cup Ads Retrospective (1995–2023)
#140

Back Passes: A Women’s World Cup Ads Retrospective (1995–2023)

Angela: Hi everyone, and
welcome to Casual FC Presents.

Back passes our new

ongoing series that helps provide the
cliff notes, the lore, and the history of

women's soccer, both in the US and abroad.

maybe there'll be a few
interviews along the

way.

Who knows?

hosts?

Mario Salazar, Angela
Morales, and Eva Friedman.

back into the time capsule we go.

Mario: All right.

Today's episode was one that I brought up
when we first started talking about this.

and again, just to reiterate, my
extensive voice of knowledge of following

the women's national team in 2023,

way back when,

Angela: Listen, you gotta start somewhere

Mario: gotta start somewhere and then,
but even during that time, I know.

When we as casual fc, we did, a
whole bunch of episodes about,

Angela: it was so fun.

Mario: About the World Cup.

We, we just, we said like, Hey,
there's this big international break.

There's not going to be any Angel City
games, so let's focus on, the, the amazing

national teams and all the women that
are playing in the, in the World Cup.

And that was fun.

We got to learn so much
about all these players.

the Copper Queens, the,
the Lionesses that.

You know, I think that was, oh, New
Zealand was in the tournament this time.

and Ali got to, you
know, all of that stuff.

So it was amazing.

What was also amazing were
the World Cup ads, right?

The, the whole series that Nike
did, which we will get to in this,

very unauthorized, not fully,
expansive, world Cup ad research.

But with all that being said, that caught
my interest in just really learning about

what World Cup ads have been, right?

I do remember one of my favorite
ads for the World Cup of all time,

was for the men's, game, but it was,
England versus the US and it was like

the first match of the World Cup.

'cause they were in that same group
and there was a Dodge ad and it was

just, it was so stupidly over the top.

It was the red coats walking
through like the forest

Angela: remember that.

Mario: and they're all with their

They get out and then they see the big
clearing and all of a sudden you hear,

you hear the like roar of an engine and
then it's George Washington, storming the

with everybody else in a Dodge
Charger holding the big ass flag.

and it's just like

Eva: What?

Mario: stupid American.

But it

Angela: like America.

What?

Mario: It was great for
that rivalry, right?

Or that, the, that, that matchup

Angela: Yeah,

Mario: And I just
thought it was hilarious.

And then cut over to 2023 and we
were watching all the women's stuff.

All the Nike ads.

the Debinha, the Rapino,
the Sophia Smith one.

Like who was Sophia Smith One.

Yeah, it was,

Angela: it was

Sophia.

it was ADA.

It was, Wong Shuang.

Yeah, it was so good.

Mario: it was so good.

And so, yeah, all of that
really got me interested.

I probably said I really got interested
because of those like four times by now.

So, maybe I'll fix it in the edit.

Who knows?

With all of that, I also want to caveat
that this has been a kind of on and

off, again, a research project for the.

Two-ish weeks or so where I've been
trying to find older examples of

Women's World Cup and just kind of
really gauging how things have changed.

And it's been really interesting
from my point of view.

And just like Ft.

And if you haven't heard that episode
back past your way, as Eva would say to

the last episode and learn about Fert,

Angela: those of you who
are coming here from the FUR

episode, thank you for listening.

Thank you for the feedback.

Thank you for living

in the lore with us and thinking it's
just a silly, we will upload pictures

of the fur tattoos when they happen.

Eva: Thank you for encouraging me.

Angela: Yeah.

Thank

you

Eva: much to Angela's chagrin.

I I

appreciate the, the encouragement.

Mario: It's gonna be great.

I think there's gonna be
a whole post about it.

It's gonna be great.

but yes, the.

I'd love to go over all of these.

so both Eva and Angela have not seen what
I'm going to be showing or how I'm going

to be talking about all of these things,
which is the fun part of all of this.

and I would like to get, you
know, whenever you guys have a

perspective of like, I remember
that I was watching during,

that was a shitty thing
or that was a cool thing.

I'd love to get your perspective on it.

'cause I'm only getting it from
what I can Google search in

About stuff way, you know, I'm
kind of starting around 95, but

you'll see, we'll skip years.

we'll, we'll be making
some pretty big jumps, so.

Angela: that tracks.

Mario: With all of
that, let's get started.

So, right now I'm gonna start, pre 99
into the 99 World Cup, and then the 2003

and 2007, that era of, the World Cup.

And, as I was researching, like it's

Trying to research by Googling things and
trying to find articles and things like

that has not been as easy, especially
with things of pre-internet, pre

living in the internet.

So.

Angela: and pre access
to women playing sports.

Not even just soccer, just sports.

Mario: Yeah, exactly.

So like with all of that, I'm, I
am trying to, trying to find the

information the best I can and really
one of the first things that came up

was not even really a World Cup ad.

It was a, if you let me play
Campaign by Nike, overall of

these things, the most prolific,

company that was doing ads.

In support of women or, or
within the women's game.

Things like that really has been Nike.

And this might just, again, be research
bias of like the best thing I can Google.

I didn't really see many.

Ads by Adidas, which is
the official, Cup, sponsor.

I know that there are articles that
mention other brands that started

activating around later World Cups,
but really has been the one that's

been there all the way through.

So,

Angela: especially

Mario: play

Yeah.

I'm gonna play this ad.

It's not World Cup specific.

This was actually pre the 99 World Cup.

But it is a, an ad, you know, geared
towards the fact of like, girls

playing sports is a good thing, right?

So here is the ad, from Nike called
If you let me Play back in 95,

Angela: This is gonna make me cry.

Eva: Whoa.

Angela: Mm-hmm.

Eva: Excuse me.

Angela: Yeah.

Yeah.

That's insane.

I remember that's

Eva: insane

Angela: because that came out like
that was running right around the

buildup and the lead up to the 96
Olympics, the kickoff of the W God,

that like the second it started, I was

nine years old, like

no joke.

That was wild.

Eva: We are having such wildly
different reactions to that.

I'm like, that.

was So intense.

Angela: Mm-hmm.

Eva: So like you were just watching
like TGIS, like in the middle

of Boy meets world, you see like

a 5-year-old girl on a swing
set being like she was five.

Let me

play soccer.

I won't, I'll leave it.

My abusive husband.

whoa.

Angela: Mm-hmm.

But the thing is, is those stats still
apply and like I just saw something,

today on LinkedIn that Arsenal is

part, like Arsenal, women's team
is partnering with a campaign to

encourage girls to play outside
because they found that in the

UK girls after the age of eight.

Spend

60% less time outside.

Eva: You didn't

have to look at me so pointedly.

Angela: I just, oh, sorry.

I saw

you move.

Eva: It's

Angela: I know, but you don't

Eva: have to

say on the

podcast,

Angela: they're

just talking about it's like the get dirty
campaign or like dirt is good for you, or

something like that about being outside
and how important it's for development

and for health and all these things.

And it, man, It's

it's really frustrating
to see that because that

shit's the same 30 years later.

Mario: Yeah, it's the same I kind
of had when I found it, when I was

like, I, I vaguely remember this

Angela: Yeah.

Mario: ad.

But yeah.

'cause I would've been around 10.

Angela: Yeah.

Mario: but again, but then again,
it wasn't like geared towards me

and it wasn't like I, you know,
I wasn't the one this ad was for

at the, you know, at that moment.

But just listening to it too, it's
just like, yeah, like come such a

long way, but have we, you know,

Angela: No,

Eva: I thought

that was gonna be so like
Girl Boss, if you let me play,

I'll be president one day.

I'll run a Fortune 500 company.

I was not prepared for if you let
me play, I will survive the world.

Angela: Yeah.

Eva: Like that.

That was what year did
you say that was from?

Mario: Is 95.

Eva: Mm-hmm.

Angela: 95.

Mario: Okay.

Angela: crazy thing is that like the
reasoning in that commercial leads

into the

statistic that it's like.

I wanna

say 70% of women working in
the C-suite, like CEOs, COOs,

all that were athletes because

there is such a skillset
that you get in the

world of sport that you don't,
you cannot procure anywhere else,

and it

it you

in, in work and business.

Mario: I promise the rest
of these are gonna be a lot

more fun and not so, serious.

Angela: But

Mario: But

Angela: like in that era of women's

sports, it was like, guys, our our
organs aren't gonna fall out of our body.

This is what the heck.

Like we have science, can

do things.

Please allow it.

Mario: I will also.

caveat like late nineties, isn't this
around the time where it was like, this

is your brain, this is your brain on

Eva: I was gonna say it's

Mario: of

Eva: yes.

It was so serious.

It's very like it's 10:00 AM
do or it's 10:00 PM do you

where your are are like that

was so

Mario: there's a

to, to the type of

Angela: we

Mario: But

Angela: iron pan with
a egg frying right now.

that,

Eva: was so like shockingly dark.

As someone who has no recollection
of that, I was so not prepared.

Angela: That little girl,
the first one on the swings.

The second, it just hit me in The gut.

Like I was like, oh God.

Like I remember watching this and being
like, I, well, I have to play outside.

I have to play sports.

I mean, I was already years old.

I had been ranked in the
state a couple times already.

For one of the sports I played,
I was playing basketball.

I was determined to in

the WNBA, go to

the Olympics and also become
the first female president.

those were my life goals.

Teachers,

scientists, marine biologists.

No thank you.

Mario: No thank you.

Angela: want to run things

Eva: and nothing has changed.

Angela: No.

Mario: Yeah, a little bit.

So from there we move on, to
99, closer to the World Cup.

Funny enough, still not
a World Cup specific ad.

so something that I had a really
hard time was finding an ad that

was specifically leading into the
World Cup or was about the World

Cup, and I think we all remember.

You know, the collective pop culture
consciousness of the 99 ERs and Brandy

Chastain, you know, on her knees, sports

Angela: unquote scandalous.

Mario: the, the scandal.

But it was like the free ad
campaign for Nike, basically.

'cause she had her like Nike

on.

But that's what we remember.

There really wasn't

Angela: even sponsored.

Mario: No, no, that I'm saying
Adidas has been the, in the, the

official sponsor for so long.

Angela: Yeah.

Mario: but there was this ad that
featured Mia Ham and IWI didn't exactly

get the timeline if this was pre or post
World Cup, but it was me and Ham and

Michael Jordan, and it's a Gatorade ad.

Angela: bad.

I remember

this.

Yep.

Yeah, I wanted those Jordans so bad.

Eva: I Just

Mario: Just flop right there.

Like what are you trying
to block the ball in the

Angela: Yeah,

yeah.

I remember this like, wow,

Eva: is

he gonna strike out if she hits a

home, run

Angela: that old school Gatorade

bottle, I can taste it.

Yep.

Eva: That's

awesome.

Yeah, I, I.

So

viscerally, remember

Angela: that the second, it was like
Michael Mia, Michael Meal was like, yep.

I, yep.

This was a, a Saturday morning
cartoon commercial for sure.

When I got to watch them.

Mario: yeah,

Eva: where there were only
like four flavors of Gatorade.

Angela: I know.

Eva: And now we have an oasis yeah,

Of fake fruit drinks.

Angela: You know what
we saw the other day?

Mario: drought.

Angela: we

were.

the Gatorade cans.

Eva: Yes.

I've

never had Gatorade from a can.

Oh,

Mario: like the

can with the, with the old

Angela: yeah,

yeah.

That looks like the water bottle.

Eva: I'm

devastated that I have never had, I

Angela: don't remember where we
were, that we saw them and we didn't.

Eva: I've only had the gator top.

Angela: Oh yeah, the, you

Eva: just twisty one.

Me So scared about what I was going

Angela: I knew.

Mario: was a gator top?

Like I,

Angela: she.

Mario: I know, the history of Gatorade,
but what, like an actual gator?

Angela: No, no, no, no.

The weird,

Eva: the one that, okay, this

Mario: the sports,

Angela: one that has a
really awkward shape.

Yep.

That

one.

Mario: That one.

Okay.

Angela: But I remember
Gatorade in a glass bottle.

Oh, it tasted so the

Eva: glass bottles of Gatorade.

Angela: Yeah.

Eva: I never had that.

Maybe I just wasn't allowed to.

Yeah.

Maybe I wasn't old enough
to pour anything yet.

And that's why I didn't
know they were glass.

Angela: Five years really
takes its toll sometimes.

Eva: I'm feeling serious.

Mario: all right.

Okay, then we're moving on.

like I said, didn't find a ton of things,
so this episode, you'll hear me say, I did

not find a ton, or I found a few things,
and these were the interesting ones.

If you have

fits in any one of these
eras, put them in the chat.

Like, or put them in the,

we don't

Angela: Get them to us.

Mario: Put 'em in the comments.

Let us see them.

We wanna see them.

There might be a part two
of all of this too, right?

Like it,

Angela: Link

us to other videos because like remember
that Gatorade commercial and being like,

oh my God, because that was Peak Bulls

era, Michael Jordan, and

you have to remember, like you'll
see it in that commercial, the

like jersey that Mia Ham is wearing,
the 99 ERs wore hand me down jerseys.

They

were men's jerseys that they're like here.

That's

why they were freaking
huge on all of them.

Mario: were already huge

Angela: so much

Mario: already the

Angela: They're already so baggy.

At

Eva: least the women never
had to wear the denim one.

Angela: Oh yeah, that's true.

But

no, like that

Eva: Yeah.

Angela: Yeah.

The, commercial.

Wow.

Yeah.

Mario: is gonna be a, this

Angela: like getting like big
memory lane moments tonight.

Jesus.

Mario: be,

a pretty big trip for most of Mo for you
and then for, for most of the listeners

too that are probably like totally

Angela: like the lead
up to my birthday here?

Here's a trip down memory
lane to make you feel old.

Mario: Okay.

So a lot of what I was finding definitely
is going to be US centric, right?

now we're moving on to 2003, the World
Cup that was held, in the us and it

is, Tr looking at it in hindsight, I am
a little bit like I'm, I'm, I'm iffy.

Like I don't know how to feel about
the ad and I'll let you guys, discuss.

Also,

Like some Tai chi going on.

I believe the video's very pixelated, but
I believe it's the Chinese national team.

Angela: I vaguely remember this.

Mario: Very, what's the, shall in soccer?

Angela: Tiger,

Eva: Ellie

Wagner.

Looks so mean,

girl.

And

I just say, I don't say that
positively or negatively.

Angela: Yeah.

Eva: It's just the way, just she looks
like she would've shoved me in a locker

Angela: that like the the look
of US national team players, like

the little bits you see is 2003.

They

could not have straightened their
hair more or bleached it more like

Mario: Blech straight.

Kind of

Angela: so straight
that flat iron was hot.

It.

It went

Mario: No,

Angela: did it.

Mario: up.

they

Angela: right, right.

I forgot.

I forgot.

Mario: banging on the wall

Angela: Yeah.

That the

Eva: entire Chinese women's
national team outside

Angela: Yeah.

Mario: outside

Eva: hasn't woken up like that.

Mario: doing like.

shell in soccer, acrobatics.

Angela: Yeah,

that is a choice.

It's a

Eva: commercial.

Angela: It's a commercial.

Mario: so is 2003, the year that
it was supposed to be, the World

Cup was supposed to be in China,
but then it got re it got moved.

there was outbreak and.

Angela: Most likely, yeah, because
that's about when that happened.

Let me look right now.

Mario: Okay.

So I think that's, I mean, that's part
of where this like, ad also comes in.

'cause it's also in both, languages.

Angela: Mm-hmm.

Mario: you know, there's the
Chinese characters and then

there's the English, it's the

Angela: you're correct.

Mario: in the final right.

So, yeah, I think it was supposed to
go back that year and because of a

SAR outbreak it got moved back to the

Angela: Yeah.

Mario: yeah.

Angela: That's

Mario: Now.

From there, we're gonna
move on to, the Cup.

That did happen in China in 2007.

And these are,

I'm gonna guess this is, these
are hosted by Rain Wilson.

and these are peak, I
wanna say office, like

Angela: Yeah.

Mario: was, at its prime.

So.

Yeah, he, he was on there.

But I will caveat with the fact that
I was a, I was a big office fan.

Like I watched the office all the time.

Jen and I did, we did not
know he did a commercial, the,

women's national team at all.

okay, so here, here is the first one.

Angela: Terrify.

Foxy is like, what?

I

remember this.

I'm be like, what?

what?

I remember that because I remember the
greatest team you've never heard of.

And I

was like, what?

Eva: Who

came up with that?

Who,

Angela: why?

Mario: Well, that it wasn't the only one.

I mean, it was a campaign,

Angela: it

Mario: for this.

So,

Eva: Who was that in goal?

Angela: Oh God.

Eva: Okay.

That's

celebration.

I

have two What

angeva: years

Eva: was she things that
I need to say about this?

The first, is it Rain?

Wilson's character is called Jim Mike.

Angela: Yeah.

Mario: Yes,

Eva: importantly than that, the goal

celebration looks

like when men are filming, like they're

they're,

doing like one of those nineties,
like this is what men think happened.

It's slumber party.

Angela: Yes.

Eva: And all the girls
are like giggling and like

Angela: pillow fighting.

Eva: It's

fighting and then

like they like stop and
they kiss or whatever.

Yeah.

Like it was, that was so like M.A.

make it look like girls.

Angela: Yeah.

and

meanwhile that's not what's happening.

We're playing light as a feather, stiff
as a board, and sticking things in other

people's noses while they're asleep.

Eva: I was tied to a chair.

I don't know what sleep, what?

What?

Yeah.

Angela: No, that,

no, that's me.

Eva: Yeah.

And they put makeup on me.

Angela: no, I don't know why I am.

Like what?

I'm more You never played
light as a feather?

Eva: No.

I was too busy being up.

Mario: you, you, they didn't make
you just do Bloody Mary instead like.

Angela: Yeah,

like you just

do scary

Eva: shit.

That did happen though.

Girls did it in the like
school bathroom so, and

we were like the fifth graders and
so they held all of the fifth grade

girls back from recess we're like, we
have mothers of kindergartners calling

saying their kids are crying themselves
to sleep because you are summoning

bloody Mary in the school bathroom.

Angela: Amazing.

Eva: And like all of

Mario: I

Eva: we were

Mario: summoned every school
bathroom throughout the entire

Angela: school every year for

Eva: forever.

We were like forever.

Were

Angela: like, it's

Eva: five girls.

Why are we all you would never do
this if it was five boys summoning.

That's true.

But although five boys were summoning
bloody Mary, maybe they would Yeah.

Mario: No,

I, I mean, I'm pretty
sure I got in trouble.

Angela: know?

For

Eva: experience?

Yeah.

Yeah.

That that sounds like something that
somebody who knows about it would say.

Mario: Yeah.

Angela: Yeah.

exactly.

Mm-hmm.

Mario: I had my, my,
I got in trouble days.

Angela: Like three.

And then you got in trouble from
your parents who never did it again.

Mario: All right, so after that, right?

We see this gym mic thing and, and

the way we've seen the ads
that are specifically the World

Cup ones, they're always, they
always have this tone of like.

Like, you don't know who these
people are, so you should, right.

Like not a, it's

take.

It's a weird take.

And the fact that it's like we're, yes,
we're skipping over and we're doing

like World Cup to World Cup, but there's
four years in between each one of these.

Angela: Olympics.

Mario: granted.

that leagues that were happening and
failing in between these not really doing

anybody any favors about like getting

right.

So we have that back.

Pass yourself to the first episode
about, and we sell history and history

in the US about women's soccer, but.

With all of that, I could not find
anything worthwhile for the 2011

Germany, world Cup as far as ads.

So if anybody has any good
ones, please send them over.

I

Angela: from other countries too.

if you have, German ads,
if you have, you know,

Eva: Canadian,

Angela: Canadian, Japanese, like
all of the big nations that would

actually like Brazil support it.

Mario: So from here on out, we're
actually gonna start seeing a bit

more of international stuff too.

Angela: Yeah.

Mario: in 2015, I was reading an
article, from, pr, week, it was a, it

was an old article, but it said that in
2015 Women's World Cup broke TV right.

Angela: if you put it on
tv, people will watch it.

I don't know.

Shocking.

If you

Eva: build it, they,

Angela: they'll

Eva: come

Mario: I mean,

Angela: you put things
on a place to watch.

Mario: if you put it on TV and don't,
bury it at like two in the morning

on, you know, Sunday, for like
the one match, you know, if you do

entire series and it's like, okay,
like you can wake up for it, but

Angela: Like it would've been in TV guide.

Mario: yeah, you can, you
can highlight it in your DBI.

Angela: Mm-hmm.

Mario: for those of you that are listening
that don't know what we're talking

about, there used to be a book that.

Angela: Oh God.

Mario: Okay.

This is around the time where, lots of
brands were really getting into like,

Angela: Mm-hmm.

Mario: to be made and there's ways
we can support the, the teams.

And really it goes back to there
is money to be made, right?

like none, none of these
companies are like philanthropic.

So like, yeah, we're, we're
not getting it twisted

Angela: out of their heart.

They're there out of tax breaks.

And this is also around the same time that
teams were getting individual sponsors.

became the US teams,

sponsor.

And I

mean, they sponsor a lot of teams,
but so it was Adidas or asics,

that kind of thing.

Like you start to see different
brand sponsors to support the teams.

So there's.

Mario: so Chevy,

had a bigger, all the kind of like,
Snack brands, you know, Ritz Chips,

Ahoy, like all of those having

Angela: Nabisco.

Mario: And you'd start seeing things
in, in grocery stores and, and campaigns

around the women's national team.

This is around the time also when
she believes, was as a campaign

started, to kind of get established

become a thing.

Angela: right around the land of Ft.

Mario: And this is really the one
that, kind of really blew up as far as

like the exposure as far as the amount
of ads and brands, things like that.

And I did wanna bring up one,
again, another Nike commercial.

but it will hit all the, I it's gonna
hit you in the nostalgia I watch.

Angela: oh.

Mario: I'm, excited for this one.

Angela: Yep.

Eva: I've never seen this before.

Angela: That was Pino Abby.

Sid

Eva: Alex.

Angela: Yeah, it was Carly, it?

Eva: That's where that gift is from.

Angela: Yep.

This is

Eva: And that's where that goes to.

Angela: Yeah.

Oh, and this is

like also when they were very

online, early

YouTube shenanigans,

everywhere.

Mario: But I mean, you could even
tell that between the, decade

between the, like it's the women
you don't even know or like come

It's total, the, the branding and the
messaging changes to like, like United and

Stronger together and like, we're gonna

Angela: Yeah.

Mario: and, you know, and then the just
kind of like, oh, them getting, showing

them getting tired and it's like the, the
kind of folky version of American woman.

Then it's like, now fuck that.

Like, you know, we, we've got
other gears and then they're

Angela: we will wreck you.

Mario: Yeah.

And then you go into like the, the
heavier guitars and stuff like that.

I think this one, out of all the stuff
that I've been looking at really kind

of shows that pivot shows where they
change their minds on like, yeah, no,

we're like, we've, well, I mean at this
point we've won multiple, World Cups,

Technical difficulties, but we're back
and from here on out, I think one of the

big differences is that I started actually
getting a bunch of international content.

I started getting commercials

places that were popping
up in my searches, right?

So, simple Google searches to try to
find all of these ads started coming

up with a lot more international ads.

and by international, I mean like.

The uk, but

Angela: Yeah, Europe.

Mario: Europe.

but it's still not nothing, right?

And so, this one, and again, this is
the only context I have from this,

is what I was able to read in the
description of the YouTube video or

when I found it in, you know, some.

Posts, some Reddit posts or,
whatever I found on Google.

So with that being said, one of the
things that I found for the 19, 2019

World Cup in France was a really great,

Angela: 2019.

Mario: a.

Intro video for the Lionesses, done by Ms.

Banks, who's a UK rapper.

and it was on the BBC.

It was on BBC sport, and it was,
their introduction of, the players

or just kind of saying like, Hey,
the women are heading to France.

Angela: Lucy Brown.

Nice little sample there, by the way.

She sampled another song in that

This is cool.

Mario: the

more Women's World Cup.

Angela: Mostly lion

though.

Mario: my videos mixed up.

Angela: That was a ferns.

That's awesome.

That was dope.

I had not seen that.

that.

rocks.

Mario: So I got my videos mixed up.

This was

Angela: okay.

Mm-hmm.

Mario: as the promo for the
coverage of the Women's World Cup.

So it

at the beginning.

I was like, no, that's not, that's

Angela: meet M.A.

That's not the uk, but whatever.

Mario: my bad.

Angela: thought

I was just wrong.

Yeah, same.

I was like, maybe they just, that was like
the stepping stones to the championship.

Mario: Yeah, I, but, no.

What it was, it was, so it was Ms.

Banks, using a kind of riff off of,
remember, remember the name by Fort Miner?

Angela: you she

sampled it.

Mario: Yeah, and it was
about the BBC coverage.

But you know, it was just like
you're adding a bunch more

kind of personality attitude.

just like, this is who we are.

Like, let's get going.

Like no more cutesy bullshit, you know?

Angela: Yeah, the, the
crazy thing, like from

a nostalgic, like my

memory standpoint of that is like there's

nothing from the 2015 cup.

you were able to find and

that like was here.

That feels crazy.

Well, it was Canada.

Oh yeah.

But still, like

Mario: Yeah.

Angela: you could drive to a game
depending on where you lived.

Like it was in our own time zones.

It was way more accessible and

we dominated that World Cup.

Not like 2019 dominated.

Well, not dominated, but like won.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Won like

2019.

I don't think we'll ever get
to that level again just like,

I'm about to quote bring it
on because of course I am.

Where it's like prepare
for total domination.

Domination, domination.

Like,

sorry, I

cut it off before.

A squad to B squad, C squad.

Yeah, Just subs after subs is just
like terrifying soccer from the us.

Mario: Yeah, I just, it was surprising
to me too that I couldn't find

anything from 2015, especially
because in us talking about.

Well, so doing the pod, just
talking in general, the 2015 seems

to be like the core one for you.

Seems to be like

Angela: for me it was like the
jumping off the, because it was at

that point the most accessible.

Mario: yeah.

Angela: I

also, my friend Emily and I watched
that entire World Cup at work.

we went to, we would go from watching
games at work, like streaming

it and then going to a bar in
Hermosa that was a, an outlaw bar.

So we would go, like after work, get
in her car, drive to Hermosa Beach

from El Segundo, and be there for
four more hours watching soccer.

After

doing it all day at work, it was

great.

It's, interesting though that there
were no ads, like there weren't really

ads prior because afterwards, like the

final, like the whole,
the Carly Lloyd of it all.

Eva: Yeah,

Angela: just like took
off publicity wise and.

They did so much post tournament press.

Like there's the infamous like, you know,
Pinot describe yourself in one word.

Mm-hmm.

like that whole, like, I

feel like they were as everywhere
as female athletes could be would

be in 2015.

Mm-hmm.

And after the win, after the
wind, they were everywhere.

Mario: Yeah.

And then after the win, of course you'd
be like, look, our national team won.

Like they're gonna be
plastered everywhere, right?

Like

Angela: our third World Cup win.

Like,

Mario: yeah.

But, but like the surprising
thing really is that.

Leading up to it.

I can't find anything.

Angela: Yeah.

Mario: have a memory of an ad or something
that you can find, put it in the comments

so that we can see it too and maybe have
a nostalgic, memory lane kind of moment.

But, the next one is also a
back, we're going back to the,

the 2019 France, world Cup.

This was also another English,
Ad, but it was by Budweiser.

So now I'm starting to find Cup
specific ads different sponsors

Angela: While

Mario: I

Angela: Budweiser did a Lion's
ad, like an American beer in the

uk,

Mario: Right, right.

Angela: and then

Kelly O'Hara said, watch this.

Yep.

Mario: So this one is taking
Queen, queen Elizabeth's, queen

Elizabeth, the first iconic speech.

a nation of football fans won
epic sendoff for the lioness.

and then the description said in the
summer of 1588, Elizabeth the first

spoke to her people and rallied a nation.

431 years later, it's time to do it again.

Angela: Badass.

I was gonna say, this goes fucking hard.

It's wild that they had black like
players with like black origin

or African origins, like given.

this was how much coming off the
back of I actually What year was,

yeah, I think this was coming off
the back of all the Mark Sampson.

Mm-hmm.

Stuff.

Let me double check my,
my, uh, my dates there.

Yeah, because

he was, he got the boot in 2017.

Do you know about that, Mario?

Mario: No, no, no.

So what's

Angela: other episode.

Yeah.

uh, what's Who was

the first gm?

Any, any was Yeah, that on the,
national team, there was a bunch

of racism done by the coach.

That's the TLDR.

That's what the, that's.

There's

been a lot of racism in English soccer.

Most people know that But was
like the peak recent of it

in women's soccer.

But I was also struck by, mm-hmm.

the amount of black players.

Yeah, black women in that ad.

That was awesome.

Yeah.

Mario: and then I don't know how
to transition outta that one,

so I'm just gonna keep going.

so the next ad that we have is actually,
about the German national team.

And it was an ad that was put out,

I wanna say the national team themselves,
or it might be the coverage about

the German national team in Germany.

I'm not a hundred percent sure, but,
this was one that, it was one of the

first ones that I started finding that
was beyond the, like the, the ones

that I had a reference of, of the 2023.

So this is, for France.

as the German team is getting ready
to, to go on, this one should have.

Baked in subtitles.

I believe it's in German,
but we'll, we'll see.

Angela: I've seen.

Yeah.

That was an AI hand.

She had like eight fingers on one hand.

They won eight times
for anyone not watching.

Yeah.

angeva: What

I love it.

Mario: Okay.

This is the part where I was like trying
to find my mouse real quick to pause.

You just saw that

now one of the YouTube comments, there
was a couple of YouTube comments that

said the translation's not a hundred
percent correct, like the subtitles,

Angela: Yeah,

Mario: and someone

Angela: in German that doesn't
translate well to English.

Mario: Exactly.

and.

so eloquently was able to
correct the translation of it.

So it said, we don't need balls.

We have, or we've got, and I can't
pronounce the word it's a German

word with a lot of consonants
that I can't get through.

Angela: Don't

drink right now because I'm

thirsty.

No, but hold on.

Continue.

Mario: essentially the translation, it's
a kind of a double, double entendre.

It's, we've got ponytails or
we've got horse sticks, so,

Angela: That's

why, that's why I said don't drink.

Eva: No, I

Angela: had been clued into this.

Eva: no, No,

no,

no, no.

no,

no,

Mario: so when you translate that word.

It's, it can be horse sticks as in
like, you know, we're, it's using

it in the kind of sexual masculine
and kind of offensive way, or,

but we've got ponytails, like,
you know, we don't need balls.

We've got ponytails and it's the
girly and innocent version of that.

yeah, I mean it still, it
still hits in the translation.

I think it's still kind of like a,
like a, you get the reactions and

you get the, the mic drop moment.

Angela: M.A.

that's on the screen, you get something.

Ooh

Mario: All right.

I'm gonna keep going with this.

Angela: German, John Goodman.

That team was so good too.

Mario: So I think.

Angela: stop thinking about horse stick.

I'm sorry.

Mario: So I think

that, like the trend in the way,
all the ads are talking about their

respective teams or just the game
in general has really evolved from,

you know, if you let me play to,

we don't need to play with ball.

Like this was, this was the, this is
the correct way of doing balls fc.

Angela: Yeah.

Mario: Right.

I guess you have to do it in
German in order to get it right.

And then, there is one more ad.

it's a Nike ad the 2019 France, and it
is, I believe geared towards the US, team.

All right.

And then we have one last one that
I believe is, I think it's gonna

be US-centric, but it is the Nike
ad, for the 2019 France World Cup.

Angela: Yep.

Mario: The little goal
getting ready for walkout.

Angela: I remember this.

Mm-hmm.

Because they had just won the euros.

Yeah.

Mario: Okay, so no, this
one's General World Cup.

It's not just the us.

Angela: I remember
watching was so stressful.

Every kid's

dream though.

Yeah.

this is 2019.

That wasn't Martha it, then
they found out no, it wasn't.

No, No,

way

to be that little girl.

angeva: Sam.

Angela: I also love how long
these promo commercials are.

It's like a little movie

2019 World Cup Fucking rocked.

Yeah, it did

Mario: Okay, so that was, I corrected
myself as we were watching it.

It, I've been looking for
so many videos right now.

I don't remember which ones are
purely US specific or which ones

are world specific, but this one

Angela: matter because 2019 was
so wonderful of a tournament

And a time took me right back,
like there was so much hope.

Yeah.

In women's soccer in 2019.

Yeah.

I

just like.

that was so nice to go back and feel

that again.

Mm-hmm.

For a couple minutes.

Yeah.

Mario: Okay, and so now we're getting
to the World Cup that I Dug in, you

know, especially with, with both of you,
with you, Angela, the World Cup that

I honestly did fully pay attention to,

Angela: That we

covered essentially.

Mario: covered, it.

And I think that helped.

I mean, that helped

like, oh, I know who I'm watching
and I know, what's happening.

And, I found these two ads.

They're both, One, one is
US-centric because it was the

USA versus the World campaign,

angeva: Mm-hmm.

Mario: which was, I wanna say Fox Sports.

was, it was like their ad campaign
'cause they were covering the World Cup.

and then there was the one that kind
of kicked this idea off, which was the

Nike what, what the football, campaign.

And that one was really cool.

and we can talk about it, but, I am
sorry to everyone else who had way other

experiences with this last World Cup
and all the ads that went along with it.

These were the ones that stuck into my
A DH deep brain and like have not left.

And I couldn't, and I didn't spend
that much time looking for more

recent ones, mainly 'cause I was
trying to like, you know, fill in some

history and find some, older ones.

But with that being said, let's start
off with the USA versus the world.

Angela: Not much.

Sorry,

I thought the same thing.

Oh, Sam.

Uh, jump scare.

Jump

scare.

angeva: No.

Oh my God.

Angela: Oh, that kid was so well cast.

angeva: Yeah.

the drones.

Angela: Oh my

God.

The drones.

The drones.

The

Mario: pre Canada.

Angela: barely.

I

wonder if that was

like an open secret.

Yeah,

and or if it's just a coincidence.

Wild.

Mario: wild.

I.

But,

Angela: would like to get a
redo For the 2023 World Cup

for a

variety of reasons.

Not our

coverage of it.

'cause it was great and
we had a really good time.

Mario: yeah,

Angela: But

what happened to certain players on the US

Women's national team?

I would also like the Spain win
to be about the Spanish players.

Same.

would

be cool if we could go back and
like, And I think that's part

of why the 23 World Cup was so.

Exciting and in

such a huge and awful gut punch of 2019.

Yeah.

Not just because the US won in
a amazing fashion, but like the

hope and the excitement and the
draw and the, the quality of soccer

and was just so, so, so good.

And

then 2023.

Pulled back

the curtain, essentially.

Yeah.

and showed just how inherently ingra,

inherently, but how ingrained
abuse in women's sports is.

And that

sucked.

'cause Spain deserved
a hell of a lot better.

But

that was a great ad.

Yeah.

to bring it back.

Yeah.

It was.

Mario: I mean that, that's, that's.

As much as we're having fun with these
ads and stuff like that, I mean, there is

the reality of like what we experienced or

What happened

and yeah, that was it.

Gross and the, you know, and then
just the, the ongoing back and

forth battle that happened after.

that with,

Angela: somehow still gets worse.

Mario: you know, I.

Yeah, that's a whole nother can of worms
of like justifying watching a beautiful

thing that brings the world kick together,

Angela: Yeah.

Mario: supporting fifa, like,

Angela: Is the

next clip Debbie Downer?

Yeah.

Mario: no.

So we're going to be ending, we're
gonna be ending with, a great clip

and this is the one that, like
I said, kicked everything off.

This is gonna be one of the longest ones.

This is the ad from Nike again,
that, they're not allowed to

use the World Cup, branding.

So it's very much more about focused
on the players and focused on who is

a Nike, who spon, who Nike sponsors.

but it's kind of like a
who's who of women's soccer.

And it was.

It was the easy intro for me, which I
think is a great campaign because it

became that like, holy crap, I can,
I, I can now recognize all of them.

Do I recognize them right now?

Don't test me.

But at the time I was like,
I can recognize all of them.

So, with that, know that I will put the
links of all the videos that we've been

talking about, what we've been watching.

In the comments or in the show notes.

this one leads to 11 other stories
that are all a few minutes long.

They're great.

I recommend going to find those.

you'll see some, Chinese characters as
subtitles on this one because for some

reason I can only find this video on the
Nike Hong Kong site, the YouTube page,

Angela: weird.

Mario: the Amer, not the the US Nike page.

But either way, here we go.

A

Angela: I

know it's wild.

Mario: I'm glad we don't monetize
these videos so that we can

just play them without worry.

Angela: I know,

Eva: I

remember this.

Mario: I think this was
the first one that I saw.

Yeah.

Angela: the full version
of autos is great.

This jacket.

Do you remember that name?

Okay.

Eva: That I

remember.

But the effortless

Angela: thing.

Yeah.

Effortless.

Mario: Every

Angela: Yeah,

Mario: I didn't get all the way to the
end because I was grabbing everything.

So I didn't, I didn't even see that.

Angela: what the cool football.

Eva: How fucking cool is Sam Kerr

Angela: Honestly, just

Eva: in general, sorry, Bureau's
mom, I'm cursing a lot tonight.

Sam Kerr.

Just.

Mm-hmm.

Always.

She like, Ugh.

So cool.

Angela: Yeah.

Yeah.

The whole series of
commercials is so cool.

Like I know the point of commercials
is to sell things and to promote

brands, but sometimes they do

really

really cool things with that.

Mario: Yeah, I think, well, I, you
know, like I was saying is that there's

this progression of, and, and it makes
sense, there's this progression of,

Getting to know the players, like the
players you don't know about, right?

Like,

Angela: Mm-hmm.

Mario: whatever you're trying to intro.

Then we get into this era of
like, you know, these players,

they're world champions, like.

They're gonna kick your ass type thing.

Right.

but it's still, it was still very
much a team USA, like everyone all in,

Eva: Yeah.

Mario: thing.

And then we start getting
into the, era where.

the individual superstars, right?

It's the, the Sophia Smith, the,
Rapino, the, you know, Debinha,

Marta, like the, all the names
that start just kind of popping up

internationally as like individuals.

And that you could market people like

Angela: Mm-hmm.

Mario: instead of saying the entire
Brazil team or the entire US team.

being able to like put
your, your financial backing

behind that I think is, is.

It's a really interesting progression and
really, I mean, Nike, I, I forgot the,

the Wener and Kennedy or something like
that is like the, the ad, the, the ad firm

Angela: Oh.

Mario: last two World Cup ads.

So for this one, and
then the dream further.

they used them for, those ads and like,
you know, they were just really fun and

really energetic and kind of covering
the entire spectrum of who Nike covered.

So it feels more like a wo so commercial

Angela: Yeah.

Mario: to be produced by Nike, not a.

Nike commercial that happens
to have some players in in it.

Right.

which is, which is great.

And like I'm now really excited.

20, 20, 27, we have, the.

Brazil, women's World Cup.

And now that I'm more aware of all
of this, it's like I, I'm excited to

see what is coming at, coming up and,
you know, maybe there's a part two of

this episode of this, thing of like,
you know, what other ads did we get?

and what other kinda campaigns.

but it's been, it's,
it's been really cool.

And I'm, I hope you guys, I found some
stuff that you guys weren't aware of.

you know, hope it

Angela: things that like, were deep
in the, in the archives of my brain

Eva: in part two.

We gotta do the Hulu has
live sports commercials.

Yes.

Angela: Yes.

Eva: Because

they're not World Cup commercials,
but they're wonderful.

Angela: Mm-hmm.

Mario: All right.

That, that might have to be
its own back pass episode.

Then, with that, because I have no, no
recollec, no clue about what that is.

Angela: Oh, they're silly.

Eva: They let Emily
sonnet be Emily sonnet.

All you

gotta know.

Yep.

Mario: Well, with all of that,
we're at the end of our Women's

World Cup ad retrospective.

Thank you if you've listened to us.

Thus this far, this has been a fun
departure from our normal podcasting

and we, I think we we're having
lots of fun just kind of researching

and putting together stories.

And if you guys like them, you
know, we're testing them out.

If you like them, let us know.

Give us a comment.

give us a like on, you know, wherever
you're listening to us from, if you're

on YouTube, you know, do the whole.

that everybody every other asks you to do.

And yeah, we'll keep going
with all of these things.

So check out casual fc.com

for all of our pod links.

can find all our social links on there
too, from wherever we're at and if they

ever change, they will be updated there.

come join the Discord.

We've had lots of fun, just kind of.

the shit, about anything and everything.

and there

Angela: Everything.

Mario: episode, as it drops and.

Best ways to support support the pod
is, share, like, comment on any one

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again, wherever you
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Specific

Angela: Yeah.

those of you who dunno what East
Bay is like breaking tea, but

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Mario: And then if you feel so
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It's an easy way to throw us a couple
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And the one thing is tell
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It helps us, do what we do.

It brings us good luck and we will,
Keep making more of these episodes.

So with that,

thank you everyone.

Eva: Thanks

Mario for this memory lane moment.

This was

awesome.

Angela: So good.