David Beckham boosts sales of men's briefs by 150%

David Beckham's saucy ad campaign for Armani is clearly working wonders.

London department store Selfridges have reported an astonishing 150% rise in sales of men’s briefs after the first day’s sales, following this week’s launch of the new Emporio Armani underwear line, modeled by the soccer star and revealing his extraordinary physique.

Fans of the 32-year-old LA Galaxy star have apparently been flocking to the upmarket store to drool over wall-mounted black and white photographs of the sports icon, dubbed "Golden Balls" by his wife Victoria.

Victoria Beckham, when asked about the soccer star's sexy Emporio Armani underwear pictures, adorning billboards in Milan while at Robert Cavalli's fashion show last month, said: "I'm proud to see his penis 25 foot tall.

"It's great. It's huge. It's enormous. Massive."

The male underwear industry, currently worth over $1.2bn, has been boosted by a wave of male celebrities posing in skintight Y-fronts, including the Essex model, David Gandy, Hollywood actor Djimom Hounsou for CK Steel and Freddie Ljungberg for Calvin Klein.

David Walker Smith, head of menswear at Selfridges, told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper: "David is still Britain’s number one male icon. The combination of a semi-naked David Beckham and a new style of Emporio Armani underwear is a golden match."