Adwatch

The first in what promises to be a series of posts dissecting the plethora of adverts that shamelessly shoehorn in references to football in order to capitalise on "World Cup fever" (copyright The Sun)...

Kellogg's

In return for the tokens on special packs of cereal, Kellogg's are giving away "foot-bowls". See what they've done there? Yes, these bowls are shaped like footballs - though obviously only half-footballs, as you wouldn't be able to fill them with cereal otherwise.

The advert shows a father and son chomping on their cereal in front of a match. I can't help thinking that surely this concept would have been much more suited to the last World Cup in Japan and South Korea, where the kick-off times meant that us Brits often were watching games in the morning. But given that this year's tournament is taking place in Germany, the kick-offs are all in the afternoon and evening. And who eats cereal then? More to the point, who wears pyjamas then? Only the mentally unstable and terminally ill. They haven't really thought this one through, have they?

Sue Johnston does the voiceover. Perhaps they tried to get her 'Brookside' / 'Royle Family' husband Ricky Tomlinson, who as someone who has played England manager Mike Bassett (allegedly - I still think it was Fat Sam Allardyce) would have been at least marginally relevant, but when he turned them down they decided to go for the next closest thing?

(You can watch the ad here. It seems to be some sort of site where you can rate adverts - suffice to say I won't be ticking the "Classic. I'll download a copy" box for this one.)