On The Double

Last weekend I noticed a commotion of some sort going on in my local shopping centre - loud taped music blaring out, a display involving some sort of sports car and fenced off areas. I naturally assumed that it was yet another promotion by one of the local car dealerships. I don't know why they bother, nobody ever buys a car as a result of seeing one parked in a shopping centre. Anyway, I just assumed that this unshaven bloke in a bad suit loitering around the display was a very bad car salesman, (nobody seemed remotely interested in speaking to him). However, I was wrong. upon reading one of the local free papers (incredibly, we have three here, despite the fact that nothing of note ever seems to happen), I learned that this individual was apparently a David Beckham look-a-like. It seems that you could have your photo taken with him. It was all in aid of something-or-other, I'm still not clear exactly what.

Now, as I've already noted, nobody seemed to be interested in the guy. They certainly didn't appear to want to be photographed with him. which is hardly surprising as he was probably the worst David Beckham look-a-like ever. I would have thought that a prerequisite of being a celebrity look-a-like is that they actually resemble the celeb in question. I would venture to say that I look more like David Beckham than this guy I saw. But the question is, of course, what is the point of celebrity look-a-likes? why on earth would someone want to have their photo taken with a fake celebrity? Has our obsession with celebrity become so great that even association with fame by proxy, via a double, is seen s some kind of status symbol? The world truly has gone mad.