Something new this year to the World Cup scene is Chinese ads in Chinese characters. Never before has Chinese ads in Chinese writing so visible and so frequent on the World Cup perimeter walls. Some articles noted that Chinese investors have put in about a third of the event cost this year. In exchange game times have moved to be more convenient for Chinese viewership than European or South American time zones. The ads in Chinese writing is intended mostly to show Chinese back home China’s presence in the world. Perhaps in the next World Cup we’ll see some of the creatively entertaining Chinese commercials to add to the international soccer culture.
