Mark’s words on LinkedIn – Annie Liebovitz’s photo of Ronaldo and Messi for Louis Vuitton

There’s a fascinating discussion around Annie Liebovitz’s photo of Ronaldo and Messi for Louis Vuitton.
 
The symbolism of the image is brilliant; a chess match between football’s two grandmasters atop a trophy case containing the world cup.
 
Ronaldo, the personification of a self-assured, single-minded purpose; Messi, studious and analytical, weighing up all the options. The chess board shows an iconic knife-edge draw between Magnus Carlsen and American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura: every detail is at least satisfying, always stylish, and often brilliant.
 
Another achievement that shouldn’t be overlooked is that, in an age where every attempt at sincere expression is fair game for mockery, the image has, as far as I can tell, been shared more often in its original form than Frankensteined into a meme.
 
But there’s more than meets the eye.
 
Firstly, the timing: the World Cup is usually an easy bandwagon for brands, but to suggest that this edition lacks the magic and aura of its predecessors is an understatement: Qatar has been contagiously toxic to the reputation of anyone seen to be endorsing it.
 
Secondly, these are two stars on the wane – at least in footballing terms. At any point in the last fifteen years this photo would have depicted the two greatest players in the sport at the peak of their powers, but this week it depicts a player whose team has just suffered the most humiliating defeat in its history, and another that has just been sacked by the club that helped make him in a cacophony of tabloid petulance. To sum up: Messi and Ronaldo aren’t quite the automatic brand win they once were.
 
Finally, there are suggestions in some corners of the internet that the photo set up is not authentic and in fact a composite of two individual images; a seemingly superficial but reputationally important accusation in an age where authenticity is a dying art.
 
Overall, however, there’s no arguing with its success. Between Ronaldo and Messi’s near 900M Instagram followers, the image is already one of the most-liked in the platform’s history. That along is arguably job done for Louis Vuitton. For Leibovitz it’s another era-defining image in the bag. And as the two footballing titans reach the twilight of their athletic careers, being the subjects of a Leibovitz is a way of further cementing their status as cultural icons that transcend football.

Mark Borkowski on LinkedIn; Annie Liebovitz’s photo of Ronaldo and Messi for Louis Vuitton.