The Beckham Marketing Machine Rears Its Ugly Head

By: The Offside | January 5th, 2009

Are you sick of the media hype for a loan signing whose main desired impact is in the team shop? Me too. So, apparently, is RAI tv. At least they were after approaching his handlers for an interview and, alarmingly, being told they’d have to cough up a bit of cash. RAI don’t pay for no interviews, even if it’s for GoldenBalls Himself.

Then they got his price tag: €500,000.

“We have never dealt with Beckham and he is not our desire either,” said the show’s organisers.

“We can exclude every possibility that Rai would spend that money on anyone, let alone Beckham.”

This brings up a more important question than whether or not Beckham and his handlers are out of their minds (they quite clearly are): is David Beckham bad for football?

I have a great deal of respect for Beckham the footballer. His hype will never match his ability or productivity – he’s the ultimate one-trick pony – but he’s a good teammate, a consummate professional and someone who clearly holds a deep respect for the values of the game. Not really too much more one can ask for in that department.

Problem is his marketing potential trumps the game. There is no reason a soon-to-be 34 year old fresh off two years in a lower quality league should have any hype surrounding a two month loan move. None whatsoever. And that’ll likely come out crystal clear against whomever he makes his competitive debut – Roma on the weekend, it’s presumed (considering he’s already suffering from fatigue in Milan’s camp, that’s up for debate). What should be an exciting game between two of Italy’s big clubs riddled with spectacular footballers whose greatest qualities still remain on the field will turn into an exercise in How many Beckham shirts can we sell?.

This is precisely why the game will be better off whenever Beckham decides to retire. A shame, because Beckham the professional is and always has been a worthy role model, and one due a great deal of respect outside the glitz and glamour of football’s marketing machines.

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Rene Levesque

>he’s the ultimate one-trick pony

i like to compare him to a field goal kicker in american rules football.

Has anyone actually watched Becks in play in the 3-4th level MLS? He was the definition of mediocre.

So if he comes back and proves us all wrong by being the kind of player he never really was, it means that his effort in the MLS where either half assed or that the italian league isnt as tough as is claims to be.
But he wont. If he could do it in the MLS, his chances of success now are slimmer than they ever were.
Ryan

you know how they could really make a killing? charging players a fee to enter the showers with mr.beckham..
...i'm looking at you borriello
dp

It's ludicrous at this point that he (or his handlers) should behave in such a manner...that's why Ferguson sold him in the first place, because though I despise old Red Nose on principle as a Liverpool fan, he has been successful because he has always recognized that no one player (even Ronaldo) is bigger than the game. When Beckham got to that stage, he shipped him off. I love watching Beckham work and I could watch him take set pieces all day just to laugh at how much havoc he can still wreak with a dead ball, but it's shameful that he has allowed himself to become bigger than the game--precisely because he knows better.
Nolan

The amazing thing about Beckham is football-wise he's not really anything worth paying attention to. He's good at what he does but nobody watches the game to see free kicks and long crosses? At least other players who receive too much attention (such as Ronaldo and Ronaldinho..who have also recently passed through Milan..what does that tell you?) do so for their flashy play, even the game's other pretty boy can be fun to watch (and C. Ron will probably be playing for Milan when he's in his mid 30s). But Beckham, there's a reason people are more interested in looking for nude pictures of him than youtube compilations.

And this is why most Americans don't understand the game.
Marco P.

A-fu**ing-men.

Couldn't agree more. Both on the professionalism part and the hype around the loan deal.

I'll admit I was skeptical in the past. I just couldn't understand why all the hype about a guy who, in my opinion, was only good for two things: get crosses in the box, and take free-kicks. Big whoop.

Then came the Galaxy deal and the resulting Capello/Real Madrid benching business, and I got a newfound respect for the guy. He shut up, showed up for training, and eventually got back into the first team to help Madrid with La Liga. Kudos, because a rich, whiny, spoiled kid would have just been glad to get paid millions to sit around doing nothing.

And yes. Alas once again, a lot of media attention has been generated around virtually very little. Can Becks significantly improve Milan's midfield? No. Can his passes magically turn Shevchenko into a scoring machine again? No. Yet on Sunday, when Roma and Milan face off at the Olimpico, all eyes will be pointed at him. How good his hair looks. What top his wife will be wearing.

The truth is the public loves to have figures to idolize, especially pretty ones. And while Becks' retirement may pull all of this marketing crap away from soccer world, we won't have heard the last of Brand Beckham just yet.