Criticism after Burnley’s Teletubbies video: Amdouni presentation was “shameful”

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Humor is inevitably subjective. Especially with the English. But the reaction to the announcement that Zeki Amdouni, 22, has joined Burnley FC on a five-year contract seems fairly unanimous: there is concern as the Northern England club pulled something surprising out of its hat to announce the arrival of Geneva’s FC Basel jewel: the Teletubbies.

This show entertained (or terrorized, depending on) children from 1997 to January 2001. Born in December 2000, Zeki Amdouni was just one month old when the last Teletubbies episode was released. Appearing on a TV projected onto the belly of one of the characters (Tinky-Winky) on Wednesday, the Swiss striker announced he was excited to join Burnley. When the video was recorded, did he know what the media officials would do with this clip? Thats not sure.

‘Worst transfer announcement ever’

The special video was hardly online when the mostly negative reactions followed online. “Amdouni should report it,” one person wrote. “We’ve found the worst transfer announcement ever,” one was certain. It also read: “Burnley should lose points or even go down for this.” Many accuse the Premier League club of disrespecting their new player.

Ludovic Chenaux is the founder of the communication agency «Up To You». His company manages, among other things, the media channels of the National League club HC Fribourg-Gottéron. In the Swiss market, the response is inevitably lower, but the question of how a transfer is announced is also a cause for concern in this country. “Swiss sport is going through the same development,” he notes. “Even if the means are different, the will is there to provide the fans with cool content.”

When Chenaux sees the Burnley video, he laughs: “At first I thought there was a concept behind it. ‘Is one of these Teletubbies called Zeki? Do they have a cartoon theme this summer?’ I wondered. In the end I couldn’t understand what they were trying to achieve. And poor Amdouni is very unwell. It’s embarrassing from start to finish.”

A word: Amdouni too young?

The entrepreneur has nothing against humor in announcement videos. But on the contrary. “But the man in the video has to play along. When you have a good client like Killian Mottet in Friborg-Gottéron, it’s easier to do something strange. We always share the concepts up front and generally they think it’s cool. It’s hard with Amdouni. He comes to England and does not speak the language well. I imagine he didn’t really have anything to say. Older players probably wouldn’t have let it come out like that.”

Despite all the negative comments and questions the video raises, Ludovic Chenaux agrees with Burnley on one point: “It’s been talked about a lot. Many people must have watched the video since Wednesday (over 11 million views, ed.), although no one really knows the Premier League newcomer. I wonder if this concept will be followed up in one of the next announcements. It could at least make sense.”

Marseille shows how it can be done

Incidentally, the communication scientist has a preference for such long-running subjects. “Olympique Marseille, for example, relies on elements from ancient Greece. Content has a recognizable graphic line throughout the season. That usually works very well.”

“Here in Switzerland I like Servette’s work in ice hockey,” says Chenaux. «For a season, the film subjects from Geneva have been selected as teasers for the respective game. That was really great. And in football, the Geneva club recently published a video that the fans like.”

Finally, Ludovic Chenaux states: “Sport is a very emotional medium. Supporters will usually love what their club does and hate what other clubs do. It’s even frustrating at times. I can even imagine some Burnley fans thought the Teletubbies promotion was cool because it’s their club.”

Source : Blick