The Golden Age of World Cup Advertising Boards

Way back in 2007 while working on my first football blogsite, Some People Are On The Pitch, I created a weekly feature called ‘The Friday List of Little or No Consequence.’ It took the form of a trivia list featuring silly and irrelevant facts on a given subject you wouldn’t find in an ordinary football reference book. In order to get the Friday List off and running, I started with a list of 11 names that used to be seen on pitchside advertising boards in the late-1970’s, and therein the rather daft tone was set for the 200 or more lists that followed.

As it is, that first Friday List was probably an inspired choice because the humble advertising board, despite being largely overlooked and taken for granted over the years, has actually become an evocative way of dating the football we see on our TV screens. 

Nowadays, of course, the boards themselves have often become replaced with computer displays capable of not only changing the brand being advertised but animating it too – sometimes to annoying effect. 

It wasn’t always thus and to prove a point, we take you back to a time when ‘corporate partner’ usually meant the bloke outside the ground selling official programmes, and 'targeted advertising' meant wearing a tracksuit with the name of a local central heating supplier on the back.

World Cup '66: Jets and gin

Though the World Cup is today synonymous with corporate giants like Budweiser, McDonalds and Playstation, it’s refreshing to see that things were altogether different not so long ago. It was only when the 1966 World Cup came around that we saw pitchside advertising on any kind of noticeable scale and even then it was purely at the jurisdiction of the ground where the matches were played. While Wembley retained its magisterial purity by avoiding the use of perimeter boards throughout, other stadia like Old Trafford and Hillsborough embraced the chance to earn a few bob in the side with great gusto.

And what fine companies we saw back then on those grainy black-and-white TV pictures. Brylcreem and Gordon’s Gin were writ large at many grounds during the 1966 tournament, conjuring up an era of style and quiet sophistication, as did Zeiss of Jena, makers of fine watches and timepieces who can’t have made many sales through the clientele of Manchester and Sheffield. During the Portugal v Hungary match, however, we see further evidence of an aspirational age – BOAC VC10 signalling the arrival of air travel for the masses and the perfect place on which to knock back a glass or two of Haig Scotch whiskey.

Up at Ayresome Park, however, the board advertising Newcastle Brown Ale showed there was one part of Britain still keeping a firm grip on its priorities although other grounds were happy to promote the likes of The Sun and the Anglers Mail as the reading material of choice for the ordinary man on the street.

The 1966 World Cup was the first to see live TV pictures being beamed around the planet via satellite and with it came the first real chance to generate revenue through a truly international range of companies. Names like Dortmunder Union can be seen cropping up in one or two places, but it was in 1970 that the practice became properly commonplace.

World Cup '70: Anytime, anyplace, any... frozen fish?

There in the baking sun of Mexico were ads for Verpoorten advocaat and Sinalco cola, but they were still fighting for attention alongside the Martinis and Cinzanoes of this world.

Strangely enough, you could have often been mistaken for thinking the 1970 World Cup had actually been held in England given the pitchside boards on display. Names like Daily Mirror, Lipton’s Tea and even that of John Stephen, Carnaby Street fashion designer, were often  seen.

World Cup '70: Papers and  Petrol

Let’s not forget, however, that this was also the year when Esso had their most successful marketing campaign with their World Cup Coin Collection, and they too must have gained greatly from having such huge exposure during Mexico ‘70. Hell, even Mothercare and NatWest were getting in on the act during the England v Brazil match.

World Cup '74: Fizz 'n' mints

Four years later in West Germany, things got more random and more standardised in equal measure. Virtually every match seemed to have advertising boards for Dry Sack sherry, Tic Tac mints and Rollei Foto (a German camera manufacturer) alongside the usual old favourites like Phillips and Martini, but at the other end of the scale things started to get very random.

The matches involving Scotland threw up some particularly splendid combinations the like of which haven’t been seen before or since. Against Brazil it’s possible to spot advertising boards for Chessington Zoo, Woolworth and Sinclair Calculators as well as Skol lager and Alka Seltzer (arguably a match made in heaven).

World Cup '74: Zaire and the Zoo

In the 2-0 win over Zaire in Dortmund, one board urges us to ‘Go to Zaire’ while another elsewhere in the ground proclaims ‘Let’s go British Caledonian’. Had the latter flown to Kinshasa, it might have been possible to do both at the same time, we can only presume.

The 1978 World Cup was the last time we saw any kind of irregularity in the names appearing on pitchside advertising boards, but once again we had a mixture of old familiar brands mixed up with those targeted at a more local level.

Daily Mirror was there, appearing at their third and last World Cup, and also returning to the fold were the likes of Coca-Cola, Smirnoff and the old UK favourite, Visionhire. Much visibility was given to Cafe Do Brasil and Fernet Branca, this being a South American World Cup, but some oddities were thrown up when specific countries entered the field of play. Tungsram (a Hungarian light bulb manufacturer) and Iran Air had advertising boards of their own but the Scots weren’t left out either. With predictable stereotyping, they could at least take comfort in the pitchside advertising boards for McEwans Lager, Mackinlays Whisky and Old Parr Scotch Whisky.

World Cup '78: Bubble Yum and Iran Air

On the cheesier side of things, Argentina ’78 threw up some splendid examples of ‘it couldn’t happen today’ nostalgia. Bubble Yum made an appearance during the Scotland v Iran match while home-builders Wimpey showed up during the Tartan Army’s game against Peru. There was even some exposure for the grand daddy of them all, Mornflake Oats, during the Poland v Mexico match.

And so it was that in 1982 we entered the world of ‘official partners’ like JVC, Canon and Gillette, although we were still a short distance from having blanket coverage by the worldwide companies we know today. Winston cigarettes were a surprise choice in Spain, as was Sport Billy, an American cartoon series that was adopted by FIFA to promote health and fitness in the young that had originally appeared on advertising boards during the 1978 World Cup.

Essentially, however, that was it. No more would brands like C&A and Weetabix decorate a World Cup pitch and with it we lost the innocence that football once had. Where was the harm in confusing foreign audiences with advertising boards for Ferguson TVs and Rizla cigarette papers? The answer: there was none, for back then the world was a different place and in our view, no worse off for it either.