Kunpeng Project
Messi's absence from the event continued to ferment, and the endorsement brand was removed from the shelves
According to the daily news agency, on the evening of February 19, Messi issued a ** to clarify that he traveled from Hong Kong to China and did not appear at the game site. Messi said that it was not because of a certain political position that he refused to play, but because he was injured at the time and did not play, he loves Chinese fans very much, he loves China! I hope that one day he will come back to China to play.
Three replies have yet to publicly apologize.
It is worth noting that Messi explained the matter at the Japanese press conference on February 6, saying that his adductor muscles were edema and he could not play; On the evening of February 7, in a post on Weibo, he once again reiterated that his injury was swollen and painful; Until last night's ** explanation, although he responded repeatedly, he still did not publicly apologize for the absence.
*The full text of the response is as follows:
Hello everyone, after the competition in Hong Kong, China, I read and heard a lot of things, and I wanted to record this ** to tell the real story, so that you don't continue to see false reports.
The fans know that I always want to play every game and I always look forward to the stadium. I've heard people say that I don't want to play for political reasons or many other reasons, but that's not true, and if it were, I wouldn't even go to Japan and visit China as many times as I do now. I have had a very close and special connection with China since the beginning of my career, I have been interviewed here, I have participated in matches and events, which have left me with great memories, and as a player I have also played here many times for FC Barcelona and the national team. I have great memories here, and as a player I have also represented FC Barcelona and the national team on several occasions. As I said at the press conference, the reality was that my adductor muscles were inflamed, and I felt it before the first friendly in Saudi Arabia, so I didn't play, I tried to play for a while in the second game (Saudi Arabia), in the second game (Saudi Arabia), I tried to kick a bit, but it got worse, and then in the match (the day before (the Hong Kong match), I tried to kick it a little bit, for training, and for all the people who came** The fans in the training session made an effort, I did what I could, and I also participated in the football interaction with the kids at the end of the session, but I couldn't really play, I felt bad and there was a risk of aggravating the injury.
After a few days, the injury got better, that's why I went to Japan for a while, the next tournament is going to start soon, and I hope to get back healthy again. I have already said this at the press conference, but I think it is necessary to say it again now, in the face of all these untruths. As always, I would like to extend my best wishes to all Chinese fans, I have always had special feelings for you and will continue to do so in the future. Hopefully we'll see each other again soon, a big hug, and I wish you all the best!
Macy's Chishui River wine was taken off the shelves.
After the incident was absent, Messi's endorsement in the comment area of Chishuihe Liquor's social account was also criticized by netizens"Attack", some netizens expressed the hope that Chishuihe Liquor would terminate the contract with Messi. In this regard, Chishuihe Liquor responded in the comment area:"As a partner of the brand, we are also very sad"。
The reporter of "Daily Consumption" found that Jingdong, the main alcohol sales platform of Chishui River, has been unable to recover. Through browsing records, it was found that all products, including Messi's signature blessing model, have been removed from the shelves.
In addition, on the ** platform, the products and stores related to Chishuihe Liquor did not display search results, and by collecting stores to enter the main store, it was found that Chishuihe Liquor was emptied of all products.
At the same time as the product was taken off the shelves, most of the content of Chishuihe Liquor Weibo was no longer displayed, except for the support Weibo that was co-created with Messi; At the same time, there is only one ** left on the Douyin account of Chishuihe Liquor, and the sales links of other previously released ** and related products have been taken off the shelves.
According to incomplete statistics, Messi has endorsed at least 30 commercial brands. At his peak, Messi endorsed more than 20 brands at the same time.
On the Forbes 2019 list of the world's highest-paid athletes, Messi came out with 12.7 billion yuan (about 8Rs 9.6 billion) overtook Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar to top the list. This means that Messi earns an average of $10 per hourRs 20 lakh.
Messi's business tentacles are all over the world, and China is also an important stop. According to ** statistics, in terms of commercial support, Tencent, Huawei, Mengniu, J&T, Hefei Silk, Chery, King Glory, etc. have cooperated with Messi to varying degrees.
Messi's personal official** currently has partnerships with brands such as Adidas, Bitget, PepsiCo, Loxo, Football Royal, Gatorade, Budweiser, Mastercard, Apple TV, Mengniu, Orcam, Hardrock, and more.
The sponsorship fee of 20 million yuan came to naught?
In August 2023, Chishuihe Liquor announced that Messi would become the brand ambassador of Chishuihe Liquor. According to people familiar with the matter, Messi authorized Chishuihe Liquor to use its endorsement rights, and the endorsement fee exceeded 20 million yuan per year.
It is understood"Chishui River"It is a high-end soy sauce wine brand built by Guizhou Zhongchi Liquor, which is located in China's leading soy sauce wine production area"Chishui River Valley"The project plans to invest 5 billion yuan, covering an area of more than 600 acres, and achieving an annual output of 1500 million bottles, Guizhou Zhongchi Liquor is located in China's ** soy sauce wine production area"Chishui River Valley"The project plans to invest 5 billion yuan, covers an area of more than 600 acres, and achieves an annual output of 12,000 tons of traditional Kunsha sauce-flavored liquor. The company has an annual output of traditional Kunsha soy sauce liquor 120,000 tons, possessed"Chishui River"and other high-end soy sauce brands.
The major shareholder and actual controller of Zhongchi Liquor is Gao Jinhua, chairman and president of Stanley Company, which owns 99% of the capital of Zhongchi Liquor. Stanley once publicly responded that Zhongchi Liquor is not a subsidiary of Stanley, and inviting Messi to sponsor has nothing to do with Stanley, but Gao Jinhua's personal behavior.
The official ** of China's red wine industry shows that"Chishui River"It is one of the earliest registered beverage brands in China, and belongs to the same category as Moutai and Xijiu"Chishui River Valley"The main production area of soy sauce liquor currently has three product categories: mystery series, god sauce series, and god beer series.
On January 11 this year, Messi's real-name authentication Weibo claimed that Messi's signature Chishui River wine blessing was officially on sale, with a global limited edition of 10,000 pieces (plates). According to information from Chishui River, the product is a 53-degree sauce-flavored liquor, 500ml per bottle, 6 bottles are priced at 6,600 yuan per box, and the limited edition is 10,000 pieces.
Now, Chishuihe Liquor has been blocked, the product has been removed from the shelves, will the contract with Messi be terminated in the future? Let's wait and see.