The Face:"the Ace of Spades"
The Face pulled off a front-page splash in The Sun this week with its picture of David Beckham covered in soy sauce taken from a fashion shoot.
The Beckham pictures generated media coverage in Heat, Daily Mail, Evening Standard, GMTV, Big Breakfast, Radio Five Live and The Priory. It was also the first time The Face has featured a sports personality on its cover.
Editor Johnny Davis said: "I think this is possibly the one which has had the most immediate reaction. We wanted to present him as a conquering hero coming back from the trenches. It was interesting for us having the country’s number one football player pouring soy sauce over his eyes – we were thinking, crumbs, I hope he’ll be OK." Davis said the mohican was Beckham’s idea. He originally planned to shave it off after the shoot but he liked it so much he decided to keep it.
The Face biked the pictures to Beckham in advance but he was not given copy approval over the interview, conducted by freelance journalist Sylvia Patterson.
Although Beckham’s mohican was picked up last month, there was no mention of The Face’s involvement.
"I was confident we had the Ace of Spades up our sleeves and we would come out in a few weeks with the answer to the question," Davis said.
By Ruth Addicott
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