Journalist exposes Ballon d'Or PR campaign offer for Ousmane Dembele: Report

The Frenchman is seen as one of the favourites to win the award.

Ousmane Dembele’s agent has denied being involved in the strange PR flurry. It follows a journalist’s disclosure of a “confidential” offer to covertly advertise the Paris Saint-Germain attacker’s Ballon d’Or chances online.

The organisation that made the offer has now denied that it was anything more than an exploratory email and blamed it on a “curious” 18-year-old intern.

After a freelance writer revealed a covert, paid offer to advertise PSG sensation Dembele’s Ballon d’Or candidacy online, the player inadvertently became involved in a peculiar PR scandal.

Journalist exposes company for Dembele’s paid Ballon d’Or PR campaign

A creative agency sent sports journalist Neal Gardner an email with the subject “Confidential Collaboration Opportunity” suggesting a month-long campaign of “carefully crafted tweets” to “strengthen the narrative” surrounding the French forward, according to an inquiry by The Athletic.

Gardner revealed the information on social media, and the business was revealed to be Bangrr International, a marketing firm with headquarters in India. The incident has now been attributed by Ali Husain, the founder of the firm, to an “unsolicited inquiry sent by a young intern” acting without authority.

Husain said in a statement that the 18-year-old intern apologised to Gardner and Dembele for the “misunderstanding” and that the email was sent out of “educational curiosity” to investigate influencer rates.

The bizarre affair has been totally distanced from the player. Dembele’s agents flatly denied knowing about or being involved in the projected social media campaign when asked for comment.

Gardner acknowledged that he was unaware of the initiative’s financing source before deciding to make the offer public in an effort to “raise awareness” of what he described as a “ridiculous” scenario.

Dembele, who was named the Champions League’s top player during PSG’s successful 2024–25 season, is still the clear favourite to win his first Ballon d’Or despite the unwelcome distraction.

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