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What's wrong with the video of Ibrahimovic and Regione Lombardia

The timing and the context are involved, but also the modality

What's wrong with the video of Ibrahimovic and Regione Lombardia The timing and the context are involved, but also the modality

The Regione Lombardia has shot a video in which Zlatan Ibrahimovic, talking about his personal experience with COVID-19, explains to the inhabitants of the region how important it is for a common citizen (any citizen other than Zlatan, who instead managed to "defeat" the virus) to use all the security measures provided against the virus. A very simple and minimal video, which would seem all in all to imply a positive and correct prevention message. Moreover, it is certainly not a problem if the Lombardy Region relies on Zlatan Ibrahimovic to raise awareness of coronavirus prevention measures - after all, the Government has also done so with the Ferragnez and this type of communication facilitates the message for the youngest. 


But with a number of record-making infected in Italy and with a lockdown that not even the mayor of Milano Sala excludes, does it really make sense to shoot this type of video and perpetrate such a message? Probably not, and the futile and extreme attempt to give a brushstroke of positivity and hope in the face of an objectively critical situation tragically resembles the failed #Milanononsiferma launched by the municipality of the capital eight months ago. A campaign that we all remember as it ended.  

So what doesn't work in this message? Mainly the return of the rhetoric of war, of the fight against coronavirus that must be defeated as if it were a game or, worse, a battle, recalling a dynamic that had already annoyed us during the lockdown: only heroes come out immune from the virus, implying some sort of weakness for those who can not overcome it instead. Rhetoric that is not only annoying, but even dangerous when conveyed in the wrong way. Does it really make sense for the Regione Lombardia to perpetue Zlatan Ibrahimovic's stereotype as an untouchable semi-god? Is it possible that bomberistic narration (and which, rightly, works in the ironic and goliardic media) is the only possible one for the communication of an institutional body? Is all this relying on the myth of alpha man and muscles really the ultimate solution to save us from a lockdown? Probably not, but it is singular as a single, ugly, video tells not only of the (limited) ability of this country to raise awareness but also to understand football and sports epic.