Qatar’s trying to turn things around with the World Cup is just good sports marketing, but the way it’s happening now goes a long way. That’s what experts say at the unveiling of the NOS, that 50 Orange fans are going to the World Cup at Qatar’s expense. In return, they must post positive positive messages on social media and report negative coverage. A sports historian compares the approach with Argentina at the time of the 1978 World Cup.

Roel Lutkenhaus is not surprised by this Qatar campaign. He earned his PhD with a study “On the Encouragement of Healthy and Prosocial Behavior Through Soap Operas, Entertainment and Influencers” and now has his own company specializing in researching social undercurrents in social media.

“This approach takes up the idea of micro influence. While Orange fans don’t have a very large reach on social media, they are important in their own bubble, that of Orange supporters. This has the benefit of giving them an authentic look and feel so people don’t suspect double agendas when posting on social media.”

‘Never seen’

According to Lutkenhaus, this relatively new strategy is often used in marketing. “But we have never seen sporting events like this being promoted before. The fact is that various regimes have used sporting events to boost their image.” And the image of the Gulf state can be harsh, too thrust to use.

“Having fans sign a contract seems like a very nifty thing to me.” artificial grassAction,” Lutkenhaus continued. Astroturfing – derived from the English brand name for artificial turf – is a stage for a citizens’ initiative. In this way, organizations or companies can pretend that their messages come spontaneously from ordinary citizens.

Image gain with sporting events

Lutkenhaus: “In recent history, Russia has also used sport to polish its image.” Think of the 2018 World Cup and the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, says Lutkenhaus. “We all remember the photo of Putin having a beer with then-Crown Prince Willem-Alexander at the Holland Heineken House.”

Sports historian Jurryt van der Vooren is particularly surprised by the conditions that fans have to sign in Qatar, which he has never experienced before. “Now that extensive campaigns are carried out to get as much good news as possible about a sporting event, that’s what we call sports marketing.”

“It’s about the framework conditions that go along with it, above all that you have to look around to see if there are still competitors who don’t have a positive attitude towards the organization. And that you even have to check their names.” it to the organization,” said Van der Vooren in the NOS Radio 1 News. “Then it’s not just the influencers, which is a completely normal phenomenon, but you’re then used as a kind of informer.”

Qatar is under fire for human rights abuses. It’s a conservative country where alcohol is limited, homosexuality is a criminal offense and women are less allowed than men. Daisy Mohr was in Qatar earlier this year and shows what fans can expect at the World Cup:

Van der Vooren draws a comparison with the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. “It was a dictatorship back then, and the Netherlands also took part in it.” In late 1977 it turned out that an American propaganda company, Burson-Marsteller, could hire all human rights violators for a good amount of money. They had prepared a report commissioned by Videla’s regime in Argentina to see how the World Cup could be used to get the most positive news about Argentina.

Van der Vooren knows that the word “human rights violations” has been avoided in this report, and the fact that Argentina is a beautiful holiday destination has been expressly mentioned. “A lot of money was spent on it, going so far as to say they wanted to find journalists around the world who were the most critical.”

Infiltrate journalistic organizations

Among other things, NRC was mentioned and, according to Van der Vooren, there was even talk of infiltrating journalistic organizations. “To see if they could change the messages. Of course, when this report leaked out in late 1977, it exploded in the face of the regime because it was all about human rights abuses at the time. This is how it looks now. “

The sports historian does not know how Qatar organized the campaign, but is convinced that such companies are also involved. “Of course there is a larger company behind it, it is a targeted campaign. There will surely be more plans that go with it. You don’t just organize that: bringing fans around the world who have to sign contracts. There’s really a lot of ideas behind it and that’s about as much as it was in 1978. But I wouldn’t quickly know which company is behind it.”

troll army

Several Gulf sheikhs have taken over prominent football clubs in Europe, the most notable examples being Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain. The latter would have polished its image with an “online troll army”, as it recently turned out.

It wouldn’t surprise Lutkenhaus if the Fan Leader Network was founded with the same idea. “Although it’s obviously much more subtle than running a trolling campaign on social media, but because Orange fans are expected to take and share specific images, it’s compatible.”