Argentine Athlete Shoots Ad on Disputed Falklands Islands

In a move that is causing considerable heartburn and embarrassment to the British authorities, Argentinean athlete Fernando Zylberberg has starred in a video ad that ends with the tagline: “To compete on English ground, we train on Argentine ground.”

The Argentine ground in question – the Falklands Islands or as the Argentineans call it “Las Malvinas”. The countries fought a brief war over it in 1982 and Argentina has never given up the claim to the islands, where around 2,000 British citizens still live.

The ad has been created by Y&R Buenos Aires with the help of the Argentine president’s office.

They sent hockey-player Zylberberg to train in the Falklands for a week and shot a lot of footage to create the ad, without anybody noticing. The ad even shows him doing step-ups on the island’s Great War Memorial, which was built to honor British sailors who died in World War I.

Zylberberg has now pulled out of the country’s hockey team which is going to the London Olympics amid rumors that this was done to avoid negative publicity and possible threats to him.