Wayne Rooney, fists clenched, arms outstretched, celebrating a goal (or being crucified) while covered in white and red paint (or is it blood?) forming a cross on his body. Advertising or provocation?
Or both?
The latest sturm und drang centres on what is unfortunately known in the trade as a "tactical execution" created by Nike's ad agency Wieden + Kennedy London. It is not a traditional advert shown over and over again to promote a product or brand, but a one off trotted out to gain maximum publicity by surfing in on the back of a current event, in this case the World Cup.
The advert has caught the attention of the Daily Mail, which has kicked up a stink about it today, saying that the advert had managed to offend "everyone from MPs to religious leaders".
The paper's normally astute Mail columnist Stephen Glover on the following page, alongside yet another image of the advert, harrumphed that the advert was "misconceived and offensive".
Five people have complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about the religious overtones of the image, not a huge amount thus far but more than enough to get it banned if the ASA decides it has caused "serious or widespread offence".
Nike had to send on Wayne Rooney as a substitute for its other big star Ronaldo. The footwear giant axed its advert featuring the Brazilian striker when it realised that its flash advert recalling his brilliance looked ridiculous in the face of the porky reality of their star's indifference on the pitch and the possibility he was turning into next Maradona - a once brilliant footballer who let himself go. Nike have been trying to erase all memories of the advert - although it may now reappear given that Ronaldo had equalled the World Cup goalscoring record.
No such problems with Rooney, and with the British public treating him like a god anyway, many in Nike's target audience, ie not MPs and religious leaders, will find the advert clever and apt.
With the Mail devoting three pages today to the issue and running the advert on its back page yesterday (with a complete absence of outrage), you could be forgiven for thinking that Nike was having the last laugh.
And what of the official sponsorship partner? At this stage of the game they are pretty much invisible. So despite the Ronaldo snafu, the score is Nike 6 Adidas 0.
