When marketing ploys go spectacularly wrong

On Thursday night, Chivas Guadalajara hosted Boca Juniors in a friendly billed as the DUELO DE GIGANTES (duel of giants). The marketing campaign used to promote this match was rather intense—billing it as an event to decide continental supremacy (again, this is a Thursday night friendly).

¡Por la supremacía del Continente! RT si quieres vibrar en el #DueloDeGigantes. pic.twitter.com/RQkcl9BFty

— CHIVAS (@Chivas) January 24, 2017

ÉPICO or not, one would think that a visit from a massive club like Boca Juniors would pull in the fans and be an enjoyable evening for everyone, but when the match began, it looked like they forgot to unlock the doors at Estadio Chivas.

That’s embarrassing. And, as expected, it drew a fair bit of ridicule from the internet (particularly from Club America supporters, who were likely rankled by that “continental supremacy” talk).

Regardless of the attendance (or lack thereof), Chivas went on to win in a shootout. Good for them! But then the overblown pageantry continued when they brought out a stage and fired up the confetti canons and blasted Queen’s “We Are The Champions” to present the team with what looked like a replica of the UEFA Champions League trophy as the 12 people in the stands looked on.

.@chivas champion of the #Duelodegigantes pic.twitter.com/xclCh5xjrx

— Tom Marshall (@mexicoworldcup) February 3, 2017

When your club hasn’t won a Primera Division title in 11 years, I guess that trophy party trigger finger gets a little itchy.

Seeing all of this inevitably brings us back to the original question of “What the hell was this match anyway?” And the answer is apparently pretty simple.

It wasn't really. Chivas' CEO was in Buenos Aires, had a few drinks with Boca people and they planned this on short notice. Was fun though. https://t.co/ZJz4E4f4QB

— TSG (@thestraygoat) February 3, 2017

If they do this again maybe they’ll just call it the Duelo De Divertido.