Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba, fresh off his inexplicable benching at Liverpool on Sunday, saw a very ill-timed sponsored post go up on his social media accounts this morning.
Pogba, at first glance and on face value, came off as extremely petty and utterly classless when his management team made the following post just minutes after United manager Jose Mourinho was sacked:
9.45am: Manchester United announce Jose Mourinho's departure.
10.31am: pic.twitter.com/TapSLyXmwA
— Daniel Storey (@danielstorey85) December 18, 2018
A backlash ensued, and Pogba was then eviscerated on social media. He was called a troll, and many more much worse things. However, in reality this is just nothing more than yet another example of what happens when every single aspect of our waking lives must include us being marketed to.
Corporations feel the need to include advertising in every facet of our daily lives, and sometimes the timing can be catastrophically coincidental. The post has since been deleted, and Adidas posted the following explanation and apology:
“Paul Pogba’s social media posts were a scheduled event, part of a marketing campaign. Immediately taken down once it became apparent that it could be misconstrued as disrespectful to Manchester United and José Mourinho.”
So there you go- another example of the perils which go along with having brands do your own personal social media for you. Pogba certainly learned that lesson the hard way today.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.