Spice Girls album of 1997 and was certified 8× Platinum by the IFPI for sales in excess of 8 million copies. That same month the Spice Girls attracted a crowd of 500,000 when they switched on the Christmas lights in Oxford Street, London. At the same time, Simon Fuller started to set up million pound sponsorship deals for the Spice Girls with Pepsi, Walkers, Impulse, Cadbury's and Polaroid. In December 1996, the group won three trophies at the "Smash Hits" awards at the London Arena, including best video for "Say You'll Be There". In January 1997, the group released "Wannabe" in the
Spice Girls merchandise and sponsorship deals with Benetton, Zeon watches (Spice Girls-themed watches and clocks), British Telecom (Spice Girls-themed phonecards) and Elisabeth the Chef (Spice Girls-themed cakes). In September 1997, British supermarket chain Asda signed a £1 million merchandising deal to launch a wide range of Spice Girls products for the 1997 Christmas season. Over 40 different Spice Girls-branded goods were stocked including food, clothing, gifts, stationary, party supplies, Christmas crackers, individual pizzas with each band member representing a different flavour, homewear, books, videos, platform shoes and even Spice Girls-branded Kids Meals Boxes in the stores' restaurants. The deal was promoted in Asda’s pre-Christmas television and