There's no such thing as a free lunch...Or is there?

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It's official. The next president of Indonesia is former army general Prabowo Subianto. Quite how the next five years will pan out is anyone's guess but hopefully the foreign pundits who always bring up his dodgy human rights record will be proven wrong. Nonetheless, on policy making, Prabowo's popularist move to literally offer the poor 'a free lunch' every day of the week does not augur well for the future. Such a policy - if it ever came to fruition - would cost a phenomenal amount of money and likely lead to huge inefficiencies (food waste) and poor incentives (make people lazy). Another concern is Prabowo's strong nationalist bent. Thus, in the possible event that he finds himself with his back against the proverbial wall in the face of stern economic challenges, there is a big chance that he will simply scapegoat foreigners. But he will have to be careful. Construction of the new capital city, Nusantara, for example, is highly dependent on foreign in

Rio Ferdinand promotes smoking in Indonesia!

I was on the bike last Friday night, tearing along Jalan KH. Mas Mansyur and past the Citywalk Plaza, and there, on the left hand side of the street, this huge billboard comes into view:

 Rio Ferdinand promotes smoking in Indonesia 
It’s MU ace, Rio Ferdinand, flogging fags! 

WTF!!!! 

Naturally I’m left dumbstruck by the incredulity of an English footballer promoting the sale of cancer sticks in such a brazen fashion and slam on the brakes to bring the 180kg Japanese-made machine to a screeching halt. 

Back in Blighty of course, the war on cigarette smoking goes on, and the British government has even drafted a new law which will require cigarettes of all brands to be sold in plain packaging. 

So why would a famous English footballer, a role model to little kids in England and even around the world, be willing to give his endorsement to a habit that doesn’t exactly promote good health and sporting achievement? 

Well, there are two possibilities. 

The first is that Rio (and presumably MU) takes the highly contentious and contrarian view that smoking ain’t actually that bad for you. As politically incorrect as this theory may sound it ain’t without some merit. Many great footballers have been smokers, including Gerson, “the generalissimo of Brazil's 1970 World Cup winning team’ who “was a three packets a day man” and “at the end of each half of a game would have a member of the Brazilian coaching staff waiting on the touchline with a lit cigarette”. ***Pics of famous football smokers here*** 

And the second possibility? 

Well, simply that neither Rio nor MU is aware of what is going on. I think I know which is more likely.

What about you?


Among Indonesia’s famous youth footballers smokers are 8 year old Aldi Ilham and the highly talented Sandi Wedhus. No prizes for guessing which famous football club they both support! Hahaha!!!!

Comments

  1. He is on the TV adverts on Global every Saturday night during the footy, now whether he is in a suit of armor riding through the forest I could not say.

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  2. Yes, glad someone else has noticed this - it really gets on my nerves that he would promote cigarettes to Indonesian kids.

    Last year it was Torres - hope Ferdinand takes a similar dip in form - oh he already has....

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  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  4. i kinda agree with u..Man U and Rio probably didnt know what the ad was for!

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  5. Breaking news: I linked to this page on a Guardian thread about why Roy Hodgson wasn't taking Rio to Euro 2012.

    The Guardian have bigged up the story, including YouTube links, and today (17.6.12) it's front page news on the Sunday Observer.

    Read it here.

    ReplyDelete

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