David Beckham faces fresh wave of criticism for tourism campaign

Well loved former footballer star David Beckham has found himself in a wave of fresh criticism by human rights campaigners, who have slammed the star for praising Qatar as "perfection" in its tourism videos.

Beckham appeared in a series of videos on Qatar Tourism’s website where he is seen visiting desert camps and trying local food – essentially all the things you’d expect a tourism video to contain. Unfortunately, his delivery on the line “This is perfection for me” has railed up many human rights activists.

This saw Amnesty International calling out the former star athlete for "yet again" failing to acknowledge the abuses by helping the country rake in tourism dollars. The London-based company called out Beckham for making "no mention of the country's appalling human rights record", according to several media reports.

This isn’t the first time the former England captain faced criticism for his partnership with Qatar Tourism. Last year, he reportedly signed a deal worth US$172 million to promote the state and donned the title of cultural ambassador.

This prompted Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s CEO, saying in October 2021 that the group urges him to learn about the deeply concerning human rights situation in Qatar and be prepared to speak out about it. “Qatar’s human rights record is troubling - from the country’s longstanding mistreatment of migrant workers, to its curbs on free speech and the criminalisation of same-sex relations. Qatar’s mistreatment of migrant workers - the people whose hard work is making the World Cup possible - is especially disturbing,” Deshmukh said.

He added that more needed to be done in lieu of World Cup to leave a positive legacy and transform the human rights situation in Qatar.

“FIFA has an important role to play in helping to drive change in Qatar - especially in raising labour abuses associated with World Cup preparations. David Beckham should use his unique worldwide profile to keep the world’s focus on the human rights issues surrounding the matches, and not just the play on the pitch.”

Earlier this year, the group also wrote an open letter to FIFA to set aside at least US$440 million to compensate the migrant workers who, it claims, suffered ahead of the sporting event.

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