David Beckham
Beckham became known as a fashion icon, and together with Victoria, the couple became lucrative spokespeople sought after by clothing designers, health and fitness specialists, fashion magazines, perfume and cosmetics manufacturers, hair stylists, exercise promoters, and spa and recreation companies. One recent example is a new line of aftershave and fragrances called David Beckham Instinct. In 2002 Beckham was hailed as the ultimate “metrosexual” by the man who invented the term and has been described as such by numerous other articles since. The Beckhams were reportedly paid $13.7 million in 2007 to launch his fragrance line in the US. In the world of fashion, David has already appeared on the covers of many magazines. US covers have included the men’s magazine Details, and with his wife for the August 2007 issue of W. According to Google, “David Beckham” was searched for more than any other sports topic on their site in 2003 and 2004. The search engine Ask Jeeves named Beckham in December 2009 as the third most online searched person in the last decade. The findings are based on online activity by British users of the search engine.
Upon their arrival in Los Angeles on 12 July 2007, the night before Beckham’s formal introduction, Los Angeles International Airport was filled with paparazzi and news reporters. On the next night, Victoria appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to talk about the their move to LA, and presented Leno with a number 23 Galaxy jersey with his own name on the back. Victoria also talked about her NBC TV show Victoria Beckham: Coming to America. On 22 July, a private welcoming party was held for the couple at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. A-list celebrities attending included Steven Spielberg, Jim Carrey, George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Oprah Winfrey.
Beckham’s many endorsement deals make him one of the most recognisable athletes throughout the world. On 31 December 2008, it was announced that Pepsi Co. was ending its endorsement deal with the player after a 10-year collaboration. Beckham has several eponymous video games, including Go! Go! Beckham! Adventure on Soccer Island, a platform game for the Game Boy Advance, and David Beckham Soccer, a football game for a number of different platforms. In August 2010, Beckham signed an endorsement deal with EA SPORTS to become brand ambassador for EA SPORTS Active 2.
Beckham visited Afghanistan in May 2010 for a morale-boosting visit to British troops fighting the Taliban insurgency[251] The appearance of Beckham as well as British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Defence Secretary Liam Fox was believed to have prompted a Taliban attack on Kandahar airfield. In September, Beckham released Homme by David Beckham.
Chief executive at LA Galaxy, Tim Leiweke, said in July 2012 that Beckham’s fame was so strong that even the then-next Chinese president Xi Jinping‘s security guards lost focus when the footballer walked into the room at a meeting in February 2012.
In March 2013, Beckham was named as the first global ambassador for Chinese football, which has recently been hit by a match-fixing scandal and an exodus of international stalwarts from the country’s premier league. On June 2013, Beckham visited China on a seven-day promotional tour to promote Chinese football. However, he was forced to cancel an event at Tongji University in Shanghai after it descended into chaos that left at least seven people injured.
From 14 July 2013 Beckham started appearing in adverts for BSkyB advertising their Sky Sports coverage via the Sky Go app. He had previously appeared in Samsung‘s adverts for the Galaxy S3 smartphone in 2012.
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