Brylcreem Becks Goes Bald
Soccer player and fashion-ad favorite David Beckham was the third man to become the face of Brylcreem, a British hair-styling company that's been around since 1928. When he signed on in 1997, he was a media darling as much for being Posh Spice's boyfriend as for being a tabloid hunk with sleek, ponytail-able blond hair. Brylcreem reportedly offered him £4 million ($6.1 million) for a four-year sponsorship; they likely did not expect him to emerge from a "styling session" in 2000 with a shaved head.
Stories ran saying the deal was in jeopardy, and Brylcreem's sales were projected to fall, while (by then wife) Victoria Beckham denied that the buzz had cost David the cash. "I would go crazy if he turned down £4 million," she told reporters. "I'd have ripped his hair out."