How Did H&M Persuade Beckham to Star in Ads? By Asking

Whether or not you're the type of person who enjoys seeing David Beckham in his skivvies, it's hard to argue that the spot he starred in during the Super Bowl wasn't one of the more memorable of the game. Especially so, when you consider that the ad lacked a narrative or any humor, and was really nothing beyond glimpses of Beckham's tatted-up body donning a set of briefs from his new underwear line at H&M set to a decent song (the Animals' "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"). Beckham spoke to Ryan Seacrest about why he decided to start selling undies, and the explanation was anything short of deep. "I love wearing it so it was something I just wanted to kind of create myself," he said. On the whole, the interview was pretty dull, and Beckham laid on this whole schtick about about being shy and embarrassed to watch the ad with friends and family this weekend at a Super Bowl party. (A little hard to believe considering his picture is snapped hundreds of times a day by paparazzi, he's a famous soccer player and most of all, he had no problem shooting in the near-nude a TV commercial designed expressly for the viewing pleasure of more than 100 million people during the Super Bowl). There was, however, one interesting tidbit about how the H&M tie-up happened. After modeling in steamy ads for Armani underwear for years -- at one point even inviting his wife Victoria Beckham in on the action for a couples underwear shoot -- Beckham decided he wanted to start his own underwear line. He funded the creation of it and began promoting it on his own. But H&M was the one smart retailer to pounce on the opportunity when it saw one. "H&M came in literally two days after we put the advertising campaign out and they said, 'We see something great happening here, we want to be part of it and we can put it in 1,800 stores in 40 different countries,' which is something that I could never have done, so it's been a great partnership so far," Beckham said. He added: "H&M has really marketed this whole collection unbelievably."

How Did H&M Persuade Beckham to Star in Ads? By Asking

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