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Devyani Kohli
Professor Hymes
English 115, M/W 11:00-12:15
8 December 2014
Legends on Board
The commercial, Kobe vs. Messi: Legends on Board is advertising Turkish Airlines.
The commercial starts out with a boy holding a soccer ball while entering the first class cabin of
the Turkish Airlines plane. He is shocked to see Lionel Messi and is ready to ask for his
autograph when Kobe Bryant, a few seats down, calls him out. The boy is amazed at the skills
Bryant presents to him with a ball on his finger. The boy is eager to go meet Bryant and forgets
about Messi. Messi tries to attract the boy by doing soccer tricks in his seat. Bryant distracts the
boy again by crossing the basketball in between his legs. When the boy looks at Messi, he sees
Messi controlling two soccer balls, one on his head and the other on his feet. The competition
now changes from their known skills to other unique skills, such as Bryant building a house out
of cards and Messi building a windmill out of playing cards (provided by the airlines). Bryant
tries to create an animal from a balloon, but Messi creates a bull. However, an airhostess presents
the boy with ice cream which attracts him more than Bryant and Messi. Bryant and Messi are
both stunned by how the boy chose ice cream over them.
This weekend, I went to the LAX airport to drop off some family members. I realized that
this is a great opportunity to observe how many people would take Turkish Airlines. I went to
the Bradley International Terminal within LAX to find the Turkish Airlines check-in. I stood in
the corner for about forty five minutes, observing the different types of people attending the desk
to check in for their flight. When I watched the commercial, I realized that the main product,

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Turkish Airlines, was not the center of focus. In the beginning, the commercial shows the air
hostess, but does not promote Turkish Airlines until the end of the advertisement. The focus was
mainly between Bryant and Messi. It was describing two of the best players in their sports
competing with one another in a variety of ways. It focused more on who is a better player. I
believe that not only is it selling the airlines, but also selling the need to dominate and the need
for attention. I thought that many people would not know about this commercial, making their
decision to fly this airline not due to the commercial.
I noticed that a lot of people from Turkish descent were checking in. I assumed that they
are visitors going back to their homeland or they are visiting Turkey. However, I started noticing
many different ethnic groups checking into the airline. I noticed some Africans, Asians, and
whites checking into the flight. I decided that now was the time to question these people why
they chose this airline. I asked one family who were Turkish. The Basaran family stated that
they had never seen this commercial and were taking this airline because it takes them straight to
their country. I interviewed another family whose ethnicity was African American. A few people
from that family had seen the commercial. One family member, Jaylin Wright, stated that before
seeing the commercial, they did not know much about Turkish Airlines. They assumed that it
only took people to east Europe and the Middle East. However, they did research and found that
this airlines travels to Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, and of course Turkey. I
asked two other families, one being white and the other being Asian. They both stated that they
had seen that commercial. I continued to observe the people checking in and saw more diverse
people coming. That night, I went on their website and saw the countries it flies to and the
special offers they promote. It travels to over one hundred different countries. One interesting
fact was that on every page there was the advertisement of Kobe vs. Messi. It is to attract people

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that Kobe Bryant and Messi have traveled this airline.
Based on the Turkish Airlines website under the press release page, it states the Kobe vs.
Messi: Legends on Boards commercial aired internationally and became the most-viewed
commercial in Youtubes history (Turkish Airlines para 9). Based on the diverse groups
checking into the airlines, the commercial has played a huge role in promoting Turkish Airlines.
Besides having Messi and Bryant, I believe the diversity that they portray in the advertisement
helps. The commercial promotes Messi from Argentina and Bryant from the United States in
order to publicize the diversity of locations the airline travels to. Even though, the focus was
more on Messi and Bryant, the viewers understand the general idea of the advertisement being
about airlines. For example, the setting takes place in the airplane and there is an airhostess.
However, what defines the airline being different from others is promoting the leg room. The
scene in which Kobe and Messi perform foot tricks implies that there is a lot of leg room in the
airlines. The title Legends on Board also implies that if you take this airline, you may see a
legend on this flight. Based on my observation and the four interviews, it can be said that the
commercial has helped promote their business.

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Works Cited
"Turkish Airlines." Book International Flights and Airline Tickets. Turkish Media, Inc., 12 June
2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.