Nike: Managing to tick off just about everyone at this year's World Cup...

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(hopefully this will be my only World Cup-related blog post this year - I don't care much for soccer and could care even less for the World Cup ...)

"Nike attacked over Rooney 'warrior' picture"

Drenched in blood-red paint and screaming a war-cry, this chilling image of Wayne Rooney was last night condemned as 'offensive', 'exploitative' and 'tacky' by MPs and church groups.

He may yet turn out to be the saviour of England's World Cup campaign, but the Christ-like pose of the striker in a new Nike campaign yesterday provoked fierce condemnation.

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Five people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority watchdog on religious grounds within hours of the advert being posted.

Its other interpretation as a battle cry from the dark ages or throwback to the Crusades was equally unfortunate as the poster's launch coincided with the first outbreak of serious violence involving England's army of fans in Germany on Monday night.

Labour MP Stephen Pound said the advert was 'truly horrible.'

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'Wayne's a good Catholic boy and I think the obvious crucifixion nuance is one part of it, but the aggressive nature of the pose is something we could do without.

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[Those against it say:] 'The other aspect of it is the aggression contained in it, bound up with the flag of St George, which you might see as a throwback to the Crusades, which is hardly going to go down well with Muslim countries. It's offensive on several different levels.'

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[At which point Nike responds:] The red paint is not meant to be blood, it's just echoing the body paint which fans cover themselves in and the rest of Wayne's body is painted white. It's the flag of St George, and nothing else. [More...]

Frankly, this is what you get you try to make something that is just a sport more than a sport through the (ab)use of cultural symbols and icons. Plus it looks stupid. I bet St. George would get a good chuckle out of it and then go back to slaying dragons.