Mistakes in media are rare. They are usually meticulous when it comes to the preparation of any news and they are constantly alert, to check whether they are committing any mistakes.
Mistakes can lead to a loss of face for any media organization. The threshold for error is minimum as the public is ruthless when it comes to tolerance of mistakes.
Hence, it is surprising and almost uncommon to see large media houses commit foolish errors.
Recently, M6 Channel in France did a segment on one of their shows, portraying the mobilization of funds from athletes all over the world. These funds were to be donated to various charities, to tackle the coronavirus epidemic.
The segment was in good nature, but a gaffe during the segment has caught the eyes of millions of people.
Among the athletes whose photos were displayed, Lionel Messi and Roger Federer were featured.
Except for the fact, that the photo that was meant to be Messi, was actually a lookalike of Messi, named Reza Parastesh.
The similarity between the Barcelona legend and his lookalike might be uncanny but it is extremely surprising that the mistake escaped the eyes of everybody working for the channel.
M6 is the third most-watched television network in the French-speaking world. An error of that proportion is bound to backfire at them.
Messi fans are calling out the network for their mistake and they have become a laughing stock on Twitter, as photos of the gaffe continue to circulate.
Lionel Messi is one of the most instantly recognizable people on the planet and to mess up a photo of him, is an error that should hopefully not happen again.