Manchester United’s marketing team will be wishing they didn’t pick a certain player to help promote their alcohol brand sponsor.
Teaming up with Scottish whiskey-makers Chivas Regal’, the Red Devils included a full-page spread in their pre-match programme promoting the luxury alcohol brand.
However, as many eagled-eyes fans attending Sunday’s game between United and West Ham at Old Trafford may have noticed, the player the club have chosen to include in the advert is attacker Marcus Rashford.
Topical choice of #mufc men’s player to plug their drinking partner ? pic.twitter.com/NTNIXanD6d
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) February 4, 2024
Had the Englishman not have endured the week he has, this latest marketing campaign would not have raised an eyebrow.
However, after hitting front, and back page, headlines following a late-night trip to a Belfast nightclub, Rashford, who was spotted drinking tequila until the early hours, then called in sick and failed to report for team training the following day.
The winger then faced disciplinary action by the club, and although the matter has now been dealt with, there are still major concerns over the 26-year-old’s off-field behaviour, especially when it includes copious amounts of alcohol.