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 also recruited the Spice Girls to front a two-part Christmas television ad campaign in 2007, in a deal that reportedly earned each girl £1 million. The volume and nature of the product tie-ins and commercial sponsorships at the height of the Spice Girls phenomenon began to tarnish the band's image. During the summer of 1997, the group was criticised for "selling out" to worldwide brands, being accused of overexposure and signing too many sponsorship contracts with large corporate businesses. According to "Rolling Stone"s David Sinclair, "So great was the daily bombardment of Spice images and Spice product that it quickly