Daily Archives: June 20, 2003

The fuss over English football player David Beckham (28…oh, and his ex-Spice Girls wife Victoria, 29) has reached ridiculous proportions. Or another way of looking at it is as a phenomenally successful piece of marketing. The couple were in town for three days and got prime time news coverage on every channel. Hundreds of fans made the long trip out to Narita Airport to catch a glimpse of his “samurai-style” ponytail, and thousands more turned out at every appearance or rumored showing. Beckham “hijacked” Fuji TV, spending about 3 1/2 hours at the studio filming 10 diferent TV shows. Several new TV commercials and product tie-ups were completed or discussed. Conservative estimates of just how profitable the 3-day trip was say about ¥300 million – 50% more than the average salaryman makes in a lifetime..