David Beckham was once a very good footballer. Now he is something even rarer: a non-threatening, six-packed, billion-dollar advertising machine, trusted by anxious brands to make Americans buy almost anything

By Sam Wallace and Tom Morgan

There are many celebrated footballers being beamed into the homes of the American television audience this summer but none, it seems, are more famous in the United States than Sir David Beckham. When the game stops, the Beckham show starts. He may feature in as many as three separate commercial spots during half-time or one of the two hydration breaks when the network Fox goes to an advertisement break. There is not another former player who gets close to that exposure—even those who won World Cups, Premier League golden boots, and the occasional Ballon d’Or.

There is Beckham visiting Home Depot to build a garden in which to watch READ ON