Beckhams' Armani underwear ads spoofed by Paul Daniels

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 17-Feb-09, 09:15

LONDON - Aged television magician Paul Daniels and wife Debbie McGee have posed in Emporio Armani underwear in a recreation of David and Victoria Beckham's sultry ads.

The picture of the couple is published as part of a feature in this week's issue of Closer magazine and has been splashed across the press today. It has also been picked up by websites in Spain and Switzerland.

The D-list couple are sporting the same items worn by David and Victoria -- white briefs for him and a polka dot bra for her -- while 70-year-old Daniels has also decorated himself with the same tattoos that David has.

The brand has not yet commented on the 'tribute', but this example of user-generated content is likely to puzzle the Milan based fashionistas.

Emporio Armani spent a reported £32m for David and Victoria to appear in its ads both singly and together. It had them photographed in Los Angeles by fashion photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott and plastered the ads on giant billboards around the world.

Daniels and McGee, who are regular figures of tabloid fun, apparently conceived and composed their take on the glamour of Armani themselves.

There decision follows the pair being recently ridiculed by a series of pictures taken on holiday in the Caribbean, including Daniels wearing black loafers and pale blue socks on the beach and McGee carrying more weight than usual.

Daniels jumped to the defence of his wife saying she was better looking than Madonna. He posted pictures of her in swimwear on his blog to confound her critics, and the spoof Armani picture appears to be another shot at positive publicity.

McGee told Closer: "One of the secrets to our marriage is that we make each other laugh every day."