Pep talks work

Wise Words: pep talk

A pep talk should make someone feel success is possible, even when it seems hard to obtain. A pep talk needs to make a person feel enthusiastic and unbeatable. 

The England football team have a terrible record when it comes to penalty shoot-outs. They’ve been knocked out of five major tournaments for losing their bottle when it really counted. So, the current team definitely need a pep talk before the FIFA 2010 World Cup kicks off. Carlsberg, the Danish brewing company, has created an ad that shows the company knows a thing or two about English culture and English football history.

To Germans who know their football history, Carlsberg’s choice of England manager for the ad may seem strange. Stuart Pearce kick-starts the pep talk. Do you remember him? He’s the one who missed a crucial penalty against West Germany in the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. Surely if today’s team is reminded of the failures in the past, they’ll fail again in the future?

But Carlsberg knows that Pearce went on to whack the ball into the back of the net when he took a penalty against Spain and again against Germany in the Euro 96. He’d beaten the curse. (Watch him celebrate here.) (We’ll ignore the fact that England went on to lose to Germany when Gareth Southgate missed his penalty — you'll enjoying watching that here.)

The company also knows how important other sportsmen and women are to the English. In the ad, as they walk down the tunnel, the fictitious England team is spurred on by famous English sportsmen and women, including Olympic gold medallist Kelly Holmes, five-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Steve Redgrave, record-breaking yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur, and explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes. And another 1966 World Cup winner: Jack Charlton.

Yet another football player makes an appearance in the ad. Again, German football fans will know him, too: the late Bobby Moore. The ex-West Ham player set up the winning goal in the 1966 World Cup Final against Germany. In the ad, the resurrected Bobby Moore leads the team out on to the football pitch (with a lion!). What better way for a pep talk to end? Carlsberg's slogan for its beer is "Probably the best lager in the world". The ad implies that if Carlsberg gave team talks they would probably be the best in the world. 

Who would you choose to give the German team a pep talk? Or don’t they need it?

The introductory text:

He says he knows how good you are
You know how good you are, it’s time to prove how good you are.
Make no mistake, it’s you, eleven men; eleven English men against the rest of the world.
The world that can’t wait to dump you out and rub your noses in it
But know this: that shirt you’re wearing, your country would give anything to pull it on

The England 2010 World Cup team has now been announced. There's no Beckham, Owen or Hargreaves.

Goalkeepers: Robert Green, Joe Hart, David James.
Defenders: Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock.
Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Forwards: Peter Crouch, Jermaine Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney.