Abstract - Version 1

David Beckham and The Celebrity Phenomenon

That David Beckham has been arguably the most famous footballer of the past decade represents an authentic cultural phenomenon. Those previously held that position attained their fame on the basis of unparalleled skills and talent. They were the most famous because they were the best.

David Beckham is different. He’s undoubtedly very good - captain of England, second highest number of international caps and winner of numerous trophies – and has played for the three biggest clubs in the world, but it would take the most besotted admirer to claim that he has been better than very good.

Yet his fame, which shows every sign of outlasting his playing career, is undoubted. From national vilification (after the 1996 World Cup, effigies were hung outside pubs), he is now a serious political figure, an ambassador for both 2012 Olympic and 2018 World Cup bids, and preferred in a 2010 poll by around 12 per cent of Guardian readers as the next England manager.

This article looks at how this very good footballer became a global cultural icon – crossing sexual boundaries and using image like no one before him, a junction box for the ever-intensifying nexus between football and commercialised popular culture, the rise of the cult of celebrity and astute media manipulation.