{"id":15113498,"date":"2026-05-20T04:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T08:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/inflatable-messi-decorations-invade-atlanta-in-advance-of-the-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T00:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:15:08","slug":"inflatable-messi-decorations-invade-atlanta-in-advance-of-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/inflatable-messi-decorations-invade-atlanta-in-advance-of-the-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Inflatable Messi decorations invade Atlanta in advance of the World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A giant inflatable Messi towered over Piedmont Park visitors over the weekend.<\/figcaption>

Photograph courtesy of Lowes<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

You wouldn\u2019t think a 38-year-old man who is considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all time\u2014an athlete who made $135M last year alone\u2014could get puffed up any bigger. But this past weekend, Atlantans discovered otherwise.<\/p>\n

Visitors to Piedmont Park couldn\u2019t have helped but notice a 20-foot inflatable Lionel Messi in a blue Lowe\u2019s hardware store kit tethered to the ground.<\/p>\n

The spectacle was part of the kickoff of \u201cEpically More Messi,\u201d a World Cup-centered ad campaign to drum up membership for the North Carolina-based hardware chain\u2019s rewards programs. The towering air-filled Argentine was also casting its shadow on other U.S. World Cup host cities, Dallas<\/a>, Miami, and New York.<\/p>\n

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Visitors to Piedmont Park could see the 20-foot Messi, as well as the 10-foot model available for purchase<\/figcaption>

Photograph courtesy of Lowes<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

On Monday, a limited number of slightly less massive 10-foot lighted outdoor inflatable Messi\u2019s<\/a> were made available to members of Lowe’s rewards program online, and on Wednesday, the inflatables will also go on sale in certain stores in the U.S. host cities, including Atlanta.<\/p>\n

The soonest the real, much smaller (5-foot-7) Messi could possibly float into Atlanta with his Argentina teammates would be the knock-out round of 32 on July 1. But United fans already get their fill of La Pulga Atomica (Atomic Flea) when he blows through with their MLS Eastern Conference rival Inter Miami.<\/p>\n

The only ego more inflated than a Messi fan in Atlanta might be the homeowner who blows up a 10-foot Lowe\u2019s ad in their yard in the birthplace of Home Depot.<\/p>\n

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The post Inflatable Messi decorations invade Atlanta in advance of the World Cup<\/a> appeared first on Atlanta Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source: Atlanta Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You wouldn\u2019t think a 38-year-old man who is considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all time\u2014an athlete who made $135M last year alone\u2014could get puffed up any bigger. But this past weekend, Atlantans discovered otherwise. Visitors\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15113500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15113498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atlanta"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"medium":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"ignition_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"ignition_item_lg":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"ignition_article_media":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"ignition_minicart_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d-24x24.jpg",24,24,true],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d-48x48.jpg",48,48,true],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15113498-f8e46830138ce7eb417e96fa29ae548d.jpg",96,96,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"news.iNthacity","author_link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/author\/atombo\/"},"category_info":"Atlanta<\/a>","tag_info":"Atlanta","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15113498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15113498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15113498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15113499,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15113498\/revisions\/15113499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15113500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15113498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15113498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15113498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}