Did David Beckham sink 3 balls into 3 trash cans on a beach?
In 2011, footage of David Beckham smashing three footballs into three different trash cans on a largely deserted beach divided the world.
Well, okay not really. But there was genuinely quite a lot of discussion regarding the videos authenticity. Some believed the footage was genuine, though the more sceptical of us cried foul play (first and last pun, promise.)
So is the video real? Since this video has once again started landing in our inbox, we decided to have our say.
It’s definitely not a spontaneous moment
What most (but apparently not all) people already know is that this video wasn’t just some random, spontaneous recording of Beckham on a beach. It’s an advert for Pepsi. Beckham is drinking a can of Pepsi in the video (with a straw, no less) before putting it down to take the shots.
From that, we can conclude that – at a minimum – this has been staged. There was a script. This means there was probably plenty of practice. But that doesn’t address the question of whether the video itself is real or not.
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There’s a history of sports fakery in adverts
If you think marketers using sports related video to promote their wares would shy away from digital trickery, you’d be wrong. Adverts have a long history of such viral tactics.
The Kung-Fu ball girl catching Brent Johnson’s almost-home-run? Fake. Ronaldinho engaging in a rally with a crossbar from 18 yards out? Fake. Federer smashing a bottle off some poor guy’s head with a service shot? Yeah… fake.
The industry is littered with such trickery, and for good reason. Regardless of whether you believe a video is real or not, you’re more likely to share it or engage with it when there is a discussion or disagreement. And that is what brands love. So there’s plenty of precedent for a little CGI here.
The digital “evidence”
The video is well executed if it’s fake, that’s for sure. But there are some anomalies. For one, half way through the second kick, on one single frame about a third of the ball goes missing, seemingly chopped off, as you can see below.
Strange, inexplicable video glitch? Possibly. But also look at the man in the distance approaching the second trash can as Beckham lands his second shot. He’s only a handful of metres away from it, far close than Beckham. He doesn’t react at all when the ball lands in the can (with a suspiciously loud bang.) He doesn’t turn, look up or in any way react to the ball, which seems strange. If someone was kicking balls 50+ yards out into trash cans only a few yards away from us, we’d be looking up to see what was going on!
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What does our expert say?
We talked to our very own (semi) professional footballer/soccer player contact, who said this –
Beckham was one of the all-time greats at the long pass. He could pick out a player from over half a football pitch away. He was truly one of the most accurate passers to grace the game.
That said, this is completely fake. Even with practice. He is between 50 and 60 yards away from those bins. If he landed one, it could be believable. Anyone could land one when they’ve had enough attempts. Of course Beckham is more likely to land one than your average Joe. And if he was there all day, he could potentially land two or three. But three different shots into three different bins in succession? On a beach with bare feet? Absolutely no way. Also, he caught that third shot all kinds of wrong. Conveniently it straightened up after the ball came back into shot. Very convenient indeed.
To the credit of Beckham himself, he’s always insisted (with a smirk, no doubt) that the footage is genuine. But since his sponsor Pepsi may not want to put an end to the on-going viral discussion around one of their adverts – coupled with the fact that it makes Beckham look pretty good – we suppose that’s exactly what we’d expect him to say.
Is there a smoking gun? Not really. And we’re not saying it’s fake. But it’s totally fake.
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