On the opening day of the 2026 World Cup, Messi posted a video on Instagram.

He asked ChatGPT to Photoshop his hair into the blue and white colors of the Argentine flag, then asked the whole internet: "Should I actually dye it?" This video exploded globally within 24 hours. On X, over 1.6 million views; the #MessiMode topic trended in many countries; OpenAI officially added Messi's prompt to the ChatGPT preset template library. Recently the core approach that made #MessiMode popular is very simple: Upload a selfie and let AI turn your hair into your national team's flag colors. It is not exaggerated shamate dyeing, but as much as possible natural highlights, gradient highlights, and realistic hair color transitions. One photo, one prompt, and you can turn an ordinary selfie into a World Cup support photo. 🎯 Core Prompt Original version (Messi's same style): "Make my hair the colors of my country flag but keep it natural-looking. If no country or image is provided, ask." If you want more stable results, use the advanced version: Please keep my hairstyle, face, facial features, expression, and photo background unchanged, and only change the hair color into a gradient color scheme inspired by the 【country name】 flag. The hair color should be natural, realistic, with highlights and soft transitions, not like a wig, not cartoonized, and overall maintain photo-level realism. The core structure of this type of prompt is: selfie portrait + national team color scheme + only change hair + natural gradient + preserve personal features. 💡 Core Logic This approach can spread not because the technology is complex, but because the barrier is low enough. 🇦🇷 First, flag color schemes naturally carry a sense of identity. Argentina is blue and white, Brazil is yellow and green, France is blue, white, and red, China is red and yellow. Once the colors appear, there is immediately a support atmosphere. 💇 Second, "naturalness" is key. If the entire hair is simply dyed in flag colors, it easily becomes exaggerated. Adding "natural look, gradient, highlights, soft transitions" makes AI more like real hair dyeing. 📲 Third, one selfie fits everyone. No design skills, no need to understand retouching. Change a country name, and you can generate your own World Cup support image. One sentence to understand: It is not a hair dye filter, but turns World Cup identity into a selfie format everyone can participate in. The essence of #MessiMode going viral is: using the World Cup, the world's largest IP + one selfie + one minimalist prompt = a zero-cost way to participate in a top hotspot. Your fans do not need any design skills; they only need one photo to "pretend" to dye their hair for the World Cup. Which fan can resist joining?