• by Steve McClellan , May 6, 2016

Buenos Aires-based agency Mercado McCann is co-opting some of Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric into a TV spot for Argentina sports network TyC Sports to promote a soccer tournament being held this summer in the U.S.

The tournament is the The Copa America Centenario, an international men’s soccer competition that, for the first time, is being played outside of South America.

This year, it runs from June 3-26 and will be played in venues around the U.S.

In the spot promoting the network’s coverage of the games, clips of Trump’s immigrant-bashing are interwoven with shots of soccer matches. They feature some of the most talented and well known players in the game, who will also be competing in the tournament.

According to the agency, the idea behind the spot is to “create an ironic indictment of [Trump’s] words.”  

One scene shows the Argentine national soccer team deplaning to an adoring crowd dressed in the team’s white and sky blue colors, followed quickly by a cut to Trump proclaiming: “We’re having people coming in through the border who are not people that we want.”

Another scene shows Trump declaring: “These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think,” with another quick cut to global soccer superstar Lionel Messi making a sarcastic face at one of his opponents on the field.

Along with Messi, other stars of the Argentinian soccer team are featured in the video, which ends with the tagline: “In truth, the best that they can do is not let us in,” referring to the fact that the Argentinian team will be a very formidable opponent.

Formed in 2014, Mercado McCann is a partnership of the well-known Argentinian creative veteran Martin Mercado and McCann Worldgroup. Mercado is no stranger to mixing political controversy with sports promotion.

Mercado made headlines in 2012 for a highly controversial and politicized ad he created for the Argentinian government while he was creative managing director at Y&R Buenos Aires, part of WPP. The anti-British ad made during the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics featured Argentine field hockey player Fernando Zylberberg training in the Falkland Islands.

Zylberberg is shown frowning at a British flag and running past British landmarks, such as an English pub and a red telephone booth, then running up the steps of a memorial dedicated to those who died fighting in the 1982 Falklands War between Argentina and the UK. That ad concluded with the tagline: “to compete on British soil, we train on Argentine soil.”

The ad created an international incident, with the UK formally asking Argentina to pull the ad, which the latter refused to do.