David Beckham is in hot water after pictures showing the former England captain tapping away on an iPhone hit the web, one month after Becks fronted a Motorola ad campaign for its £1,400 Aura handset.
The AC Milan star has been the face of Motorola since 2006, signing a multi-million pound agreement with advertising appearances rolled out across the globe.
Motorola’s newest campaign, shot by Ogilvy London, showed Beckham as a Terminator character promoting the company’s recession-snubbing Aura phone, which retails for £1,400 and is made from more than 200 Swiss-made components.
Beckham said of the campaign: “Motorola always seem to come up with something different, a concept that no one else has, and they’ve certainly done that again with Aura.
“I love classic watches, so a phone that exposes its mechanics while also being so stylish is really unique. When you hold it, it feels like you have something really special in your hand.”
Italian paparazzi caught Becks red handed while he dined alone in Milan yesterday, busying himself with an Apple iPhone, before sheepishly hiding it under the table. No doubt playing the iPhone Pro Evolution Soccer app where the version of Beckham in the game has more speed.
No word if Motorola plans to penalise Beckham for his lack of loyalty. The football star still has a number of endorsement deals to fall back on, including Giorgio Armani, Adidas and Sharpie pens.
Comments
Absolutely brilliant celebwash…
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Is anyone surprised, either that he got caught or he uses an iPhone? He’s a typical default option for marketers with too much money and hopefully this might be beneficial in the long run, ie a step towards him being removed from our everyday lives. Let’s face it, the footballing prowess has gone so it’s only a matter of time before his sellout potential walks out of the door with it. Have faith children, have faith he will soon be with us no more!
Geoff, I think you’re being a bit hard on Mr Beckham. He is without a doubt a talented footballer (even if he’s a little bit past his sell-by date for playing at the highest level) and his advisors have been very clever at exploiting his image rights. In his position I’d do the same.
The real problem here is (as you pointed out) that marketing executives at Motorola believe that “just throwing money at the problem” will win the day. Beckham’s use of an iPhone when he clearly gets a Motorola Aura to use for free tells me that he thinks the i|Phone is a superior device. Apple 1 Motorola 0, the marketing department have scored an own goal. Beckham’s brand image isn’t a good fit anyway, his image is so overused that all it says to me is that they’ve paid him far too much money for too little work… he’s a “brand whore”.
It also makes me think that if he’s working for Vodafone how the hell has he got an iPhone since it is still O2 exclusive in the UK! Surely it’s not one rule for him and another for us mere mortals because that would certainly shake the foundations of my belief in a true a just society… next you’ll be telling me that our elected officials have been fiddling their expenses!