LETTER FROM BUENOS AIRES
“Argentina, numbers 9 and 12? » « France, number 2 » ? A rumor rises from this park in Buenos Aires, where, in clusters, kids supported by their parents devote themselves to effective confabulations, heads lowered towards their hoard which they barter, against a missing image, before continuing their feverish quest. « I have a lot of players from Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Saudi Arabia in doubles, everything except Argentina. When you come across a thumbnail you are looking for, what happiness! »describes Martin, 13, who has already obtained the Grail, Lionel Messi, whom he decided, strategist, to give in against fifteen other illustrations. « Price I have it in photo before »he specifies, a hundred vignettes in his hands to be offered, at the Rivadavia park, a high place for the exchange of stickers from the Panini (Site notre blog d’information) World Cup album.
This classic collector’s item since 1970, incorporated for this edition 18 players from each of the 32 selected teams, is a huge success in Argentina. Shortly after its launch – 3 months before the November 20 kick-off of the competition in Qatar – long queues formed around points of sale, with stocks too thin or out of stock: “But where are read figurines (« thumbnails »)? “challenged the murders of the album, on social networks in particular. In the elation, numerous strategies emerged, reported by the nation’s media as a thriller: four-hour queue of early-morning twinks in front of commission-qualified trade, app flagging the few outlets still provided , vignettes offered on the parallel market at full price. A mother met at Rivadavia Park, piles of images stored in a transparent freezer bag, was able to obtain the highly sought-after sachets containing five images each on an online sales site, more than 3 times more expensive than the price recommended sale (150 pesos, 1 euro, at the official rate).
An unusual street on the thumbnails
The file ended up being seized by the government. Because, beyond the shortage, a conflict has been added to the affair: the kiosks, multi-product points of sale punctuating the whole country, sometimes open twenty-four hours a day, have cried treason , like Pablo Soria, guaranteed with a kiosk for seven World Cups. « We had always had the exclusive sale of Panini stickers, which we distribute all year round », he said, pointing to cartoon bags. « But the World Cup is our big moment and there they started to sell vending machines in gas stations, supermarkets, delivery apps, it’s not normal », he cursed. His business welcomes customers with affable posters: « No album, no thumbnails », “Traitor Panini”. A meeting was thus organized by the trade secretariat, dependent on the ministry for the economy, on Tuesday September 20, in order to « to open a space for dialogue » between the kiosk syndicate and the company, intimate to the parties of “make the marketing chain transparent”.
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