The World Cup has caused a sort of marketing and media frenzy in Shanghai... its inescapable, brightly coloured frenzy is overwhelming yet typical of Chinese capitalism.
A few things I've noticed: The World Cup has completely permeated Chinese media! Take for example last night's Federer vs Djokovic Wimbledon final, that was... streamed in our hotel room from a laptop that was connected the hotel ethernet cable. The final was completely absent from all of the 40+ television channels in ShenYang. Any trace of Wimbledon has seeming been completely erased from the Chinese mindset, if the Communist mainstream media is any indicator to go by (haha but it is not!).
There is a channel that seems entirely dedicated to the World Cup, that being CCTV5 (and another channel which is more fuzzy and less coherent that's a few 20+ clicks of a tv remote away). At first I had thought CCTV5 would be the equivalent of the Australian Channel One or even 7mate to an extent, though that quickly proved untrue after the program ran what seemed like it's 5th consecutive talk show about the World Cup in one night. Personally it would make more sense for it to just show repeats of the games, though whatever floats your boat. At least it's great for rabid FIFA fans. Rabid fluent-in-Chinese FIFA fans.
One final observation I have to make is that Fuleco and general World Cup marketing is everywhere! Especially clever ambush marketing. Walking down the main streets of Shanghai and Shenyang, it seems like every second restaurant/shopping centre/complex has hung up a string of various country flags, pasted on their walls the playoffs schedules, and some even have outdoor TV screens precariously mounted on the restaurant's walls, showing previous games, all without any imagery of the World Cup logo or FIFA or the alike. Fuleco the poor armadillo has also found itself roped up in all this. I remember once driving down a road in Shanghai, and stopping at the red lights, just iin front of an active construction site. A giant, blowup Fuleco stood, seeminly guarding the entrance, football under one arm, sighing under the weight of the heavy grey construction dust. As we drove away, it seemed even more confused than I was as to its whereabouts.
Stay tuned for more World Cup stories (probably maybe just one)
Amy
