Is Neymar Wearing a Fake Brazil Shirt in Budweiser 2022 World Cup Commercial?

In Budweiser's latest World Cup ad, it appears that the Brazil shirt worn by Neymar is a fake. Thanks to @gab.milhomem for the tip off.

Is Neymar's Brazil Shirt Fake in Budweiser Ad?

Budweiser have been sponsoring the World Cup for over thirty years and like their fellow sponsors, they release big budget ad campaigns in the lead up to every tournament. These usually contain highly unrealistic portrayals of the fan experience, somehow made magical by drinking a bottle of their beer. Anyone who has ever been to a football match or even watched one on tv could tell you that the people responsible for making these ads has likely never done either of those two things in their lives.

The behaviour and facial expressions of the "fans" in the ads are far-removed from what goes on in stadiums, pubs or living rooms during a match, and the costume departments really need to do their research better. Impossibly generic-looking jerseys and track tops, often adorned with national flags are the garments of choice, even with Budweiser branding in this case.

The lack of realism in terms of attire sometimes extends to the players who feature in the ads, with unbranded kits and amateur looking badges in place of the licensed FA ones. This is understandable to a certain degree as they may not have permission to use the official gear, but for this year's Budweiser ad things are slightly different.

Raheem Sterling is wearing England's new Nike home shirt and Messi has an Adidas half zip top with the new Argentina home shirt visible underneath, but front and centre is Neymar in Brazil's 2020 home shirt. It's strange that only one of the three shirts is out of date, but this could possibly be due to Neymar filming his part of the ad before the new shirt was available.

What's even stranger than this anachronism is the fact that the shirt worn by Neymar appears to be a fake. Brazil's 2020 shirt has three layers of triangular detailing on the round neck collar and cuffs in different shades of green. Neymar's collar has only two shades of green with only one row of triangles along the top edge, and this doesn't seem to be just an impression caused by the lighting either. There also seems to be some slight puckering around the Nike logo, another common telltale sign.

Take a look at the shots of Brazil's players wearing the 2020 shirt below. The lighting differs in each photo, yet the collar detailing is still visible to some extent, and in none of the photos above does the it resemble Neymar's collar in the ad. The absence of the weave pattern could be explained by it being a replica rather than authentic version, but there is no such explanation for the collar.

It's true that fake shirts are getting harder and harder to tell apart from the real thing, but for a fake shirt to makes its way into such a production without being noticed would really be quite the blunder by Budweiser. It might be of little consequence for a fake to appear in a film, ad or tv show that wasn't exclusively about football, but that is not the case here, where the shirt in question is being worn by one of the biggest names in football as he supposedly prepares to take to the pitch to represent his country.

If they actually wanted realism they could have dressed a few of the football fan extras in fake jerseys, but double-checking the "costumes" for the stars of the ad would have been even better.

What do you make of this situation? Do you think the shirt is a fake or is there some other explanation? Let us know in the comments.