Company confuses Barack Obama with Chris Smalling on England team mug set (Photo)
By Sean Leahy June 23, 2014 Dirty Tackle
It's been a forgettable World Cup for England on the pitch. Off the pitch, one company is having a forgettable few days as well, as they had hoped to cash in on a successful tournament for The Three Lions, as the Sunday Express notes.
Among the English World Cup merchandise an unnamed British company had created featuring the likenesses of the English soccer team were a set of mugs that included one glaring error. You could purchase a Steven Gerrard or Joe Hart or Wayne Rooney, among others, but if you’re a big Chris Smalling fan, you might notice something a tad off about his appearance.
U.S. President Barack Obama does not play center back for Manchester United or the English national team.
Realizing its mistake, the company turned to online re-seller Wholesale Clearance UK to dump the error-filled inventory.
The item description explains what happened:
The Dorset company in question (whose blushes we shall protect for now....maybe!) was given the seemingly easy job of sourcing royalty free pictures of each England squad player to use on the England mugs – along with other accompanying items such as England coasters, England mouse mats etc. They passed this onto to their young, bright eyed and bushy tailed new apprentice. The designs were proofed and signed off by the Boss, who had clearly had a heavy night with the lads playing poker and before he’d had his first vat of coffee the following morning.
Due to our ongoing commitment to help local companies get their products noticed, last Wednesday 2,000 of each of the England items came into the warehouse. We eagerly unpacked them and on close inspection it turned out that the Chris Smalling cup had Barack Obama’s head on instead of Chris’s.
The apprentice claims that he used that well known search engine, Google, to source the pictures. The thing is he’s more of a rugby fan and not very clued up on football. Suffice to say that when he Google image searched ‘Chris Smalling’ he copied the first picture he liked the look of and the result was that the President of the United States has ended up on an England cup instead of the English defender.
So, if you would like to purchase 2,000 Obama England national team mugs, it will run you £2,000. They're bound to be collector's items by now.
