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
The Return of the Spice Girls Tour pieces of gold, white and black paper strips, while flags from different countries flashed across the backdrop screens. In late 2007, a fake email was posted by Perez Hilton on his site saying the Spice Girls had cancelled the Buenos Aires date, causing an official statement to be released saying that Buenos Aires and the other world tour dates were being finalized. Due to the expansion of the British and American legs of the tour, it was finally announced on 1 February 2008 that the end of the tour would take place in Toronto, on 26 February 2008, meaning the