Beckham’s soft drink video stirs debate

LOS ANGELES—David Beckham’s 69-second video showing him bending three footballs into a trio of far away rubbish bins on a California beach has received more than 1.3 million hits on YouTube.

But Beckham was somewhat evasive when asked in Toronto Tuesday if the amazing video, done for a popular soft drink label, was real or doctored.

“Of course,” the former England captain said told the Toronto Star. “I spent five or six hours on the beach so I had a lot of time to practice.”

Wearing khaki shorts and a white shirt, Beckham puts down a soft drink he is holding and drifts three ball into the rubbish bins while people off camera express shock and admiration. The stunt is all the more amazing because the former Manchester United star is barefoot.

Beckham then speaks into the camera and says “told you.”

Big name American corporations are increasingly using high-profile athletes to do seemingly impossible video stunts as a way to market their products to a younger generation.

In one video, NBA star Kobe Bryant jumps over a speeding car, NHL hero Sidney Crosby fires pucks with pin-point accuracy in another and one spot has tennis champion Roger Federer knocking a can of shaving cream off a man’s head with a bullet serve.