Manchester United are back! If you define “back” as partaking in an act of sponsored content/native advertising/entertainment commercial synergy. United are far off the pace of Chelsea for the top of the table, but they do lead the Premier League in entertainment-industrial complex commercialism.
You might recall the club dressing mascots up as X-Men characters this past season as part of their tie-in with 20th Century Fox over a year ago. Today, we see Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney try and get you pumped up for the “Assassin’s Creed” film.
The desire for victory is in our DNA. #HistoryIsInOurBlood@AssassinsMovie https://t.co/WGNCTc2Z5A
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 16, 2016
The narration from the very esteemed Jeremy Irons might be the best part of that endeavor. Flash back to this summer, and you’ll recall the Independence Day 2 trailer starring Chris Smalling, Daley Blind, Ashley Young, Juan Mata and Wayne Rooney. Here below you can watch the quintet join the rest of humanity and take on the aliens in an aerial dog fight.
After you watch the Tweet video below I will have to ask you- did you enjoy Rooney displaying his acting chops (by that I mean lack thereof) there as much as I did? It turns out Wayne Rooney the sci-fi actor is pretty much as dull and vanilla as Wayne Rooney the soundbite in media interviews.
United v aliens – we know who we’re backing! #IndependenceDay https://t.co/nV5MVDpGn3
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) June 14, 2016
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.