David Beckham Appears in Shiraz - 2003-10-14

These days, if you happen to visit Shiraz, in addition to touring the historical buildings and tourist attractions of this ancient city, you will encounter another noteworthy subject; the controversial image of David Beckham has appeared on the highways of Shiraz! In this large advertising billboard, which had previously caused a stir in Tehran, Beckham's head and shoulders, the popular footballer of the England national team and current player of Real Madrid, are displayed next to a gallon of motor oil. This image was installed in mid-September this year at six points on the highways of Tehran, but due to protests, Beckham's face was covered within less than three weeks (late September), and less than 24 hours later, the entire image was torn down and removed forever. At that time, despite many observers attributing the responsibility for this incident to the conservative city council of Tehran, Rasoul Khadem, one of the members of this council, completely denied this in an interview with the Persian section of the BBC, stating that the city council had no involvement in this matter. Meanwhile, the Reuters news agency office in Tehran explicitly reported the city council's role in these events: 'The permit for this work was issued by the reformist government. However, the Tehran city council protested after three weeks against his face, which was prominently displayed in Tehran's traffic.' Interestingly, the billboard currently displaying Beckham's image in Shiraz is significantly larger than the billboards allocated for this purpose in Tehran and, given its location near the city's entry-exit point (just below the Quran Gate), it attracts a lot of attention. Previously, the manager of the advertising company using Beckham's image had mentioned the imposed restrictions to Reuters, saying: 'We intend to change the billboard photos so that Beckham is only visible from behind.' However, it seems that the advertising company has concluded that it is easier to display the face of the popular English footballer and the desired product in other cities.