What the FIFA World Cup in Qatar tells us about navigating a complex global environment

It was always going to be controversial.

Accusations of corruption (which were strongly denied) greeted the mere decision to hold the FIFA World Cup in Qatar this year – albeit later in the year than usual, because, well, no one wants footballers with heatstroke, do they. Then the accusations around working conditions in the building of the stadiums. And as for the minimization of human rights for the LGBTQ+ community in Qatar brought down to an argument about armbands…

FIFA itself, just seems to make things worse, every time it steps into any debate surrounding this World Cup. Partly due to its Presidents’ (yes, plural: here and here) erratic press conferences, partly due to the fact that its credibility is tenuous to say the least.

I am no expert at football, but I do know a lot about international public relations, particularly in the complex global context we now live in, so here are three reasons why the FIFA World Cup in Qatar is so contentious and what that means for brands and their marketing and communications teams.

1. It’s a global event. Statement of the bleeding obvious as my mother would say, but so often, companies are surprised when a big launch planned for one region goes down really badly on the other side of the world. Consider the differing experiences of football fans in the West and those based in Qatar and the Middle East, their cultural touchpoints on this issue are entirely different (let’s not mention the English horror at the idea of no beer being served in the stadiums). The other crucial element here is the fact that the global community we’re referring to has just experienced collective trauma in the form of the Covid 19 pandemic. For those who had the privilege to do so, we took a moment to consider what was important to us, our values, what we identified as and with, and who were the communities we wanted to become allies for.
    
2. It’s about values: human rights, human wrongs, equality, fairness, the right to protest, the freedom to succeed. Any issue surrounding values like this is guaranteed to light the touchpaper right now. They speak to what we stand for, how we run our lives, how we run our countries and this global sporting event has forced differing values right up against each other. How do we navigate and mediate that discussion?
    
3. It’s about power. Who has the power now, the West or the Middle East? The global energy crisis would suggest the latter, but the West is still clinging to its historical power over the world and is genuinely surprised when the values that have evolved (and this is crucial: that evolution enables us to forget how many human wrongs were committed in the past and come across as entirely hypocritical) over the years are challenged.

This environment is a minefield for brands, usually very happy to commit vast amounts of advertising spend to such an opportunity for global visibility. Sports brands have been forced to question their values a lot over recent years, and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar is no exception. Because in this context, it is near impossible not to offend at least some of your customers, somewhere in the world. But in the end, that’s where the decision should come from: what are our values, who do we stand with, how willing are we to take part in the discussion that will (inevitably) come next. Those are the brands that will thrive in this complex global world.

The CIPR International group is running a webinar on the State of PR in the MENA region, which will touch on the FIFA 2022 World Cup and explore the increasing significance of the region globally. Sign up now.

Emma Duke is a CIPR International committee member and works with communicators across the globe through her consultancy business, Emma Duke PR.

Image by jamesteohart on iStock