Why the Arsenal “Visit Rwanda” sleeve advert is bad for both Rwanda and Arsenal

Today 23rd May 2018, Arsenal announced that they had signed a marketing deal to have Visit Rwanda on the sleeve of the Arsenal jersey. The actual amount that this deal will cost Rwanda is still not clear but rumoured to be about $ 10 million annually.

The initial reaction from Arsenal fans on Twitter has been horrible characterised by words like disgusting, classless and cheap. This is not exactly what the Arsenal board had envisaged and it’s bound to get worse.

Rwanda will get huge exposure but at the cost of more scrutiny to their human rights record with questions being asked about arrests, disappearances and murders of political opponents.

Either way both Rwanda and Arsenal don’t seem to have done their homework well on this deal. For $ 10 million Arsenal football club’s image will now be associated with a murderous regime at a time when it’s not doing well on the pitch while Rwanda government will face more scrutiny to its terrible human rights record.