Christmas with the Spice Girls

Tescos must be delighted, as the money they're paying The Spice Girls to appear in an ad is generating acres of coverage, such as Newton's simpering write-up this morning:

A source said: “It’s an amazingly lucrative deal for the girls, and Tesco are thrilled as it’s a real coup. The ads are very funny as the girls insisted it had to be a send-up.”

Yes, it's a "real coup" and not, as you might think "a simple case of them paying a large sum of money in a cash transaction", then.

And how much of a "send-up" is the advert?

The girls are seen sitting on a huge sofa with a sumptuous spread before them — and gold discs on the wall to remind everyone how successful they were.

Goodness. They like a laugh at their own expense (okay, and Tesco's expense), don't they?

Of course, there is something pleasing in the tie-up, with its echo of David Badiel's observation that the Spice Girls were the sort of woman you see working in Tescos and think "they're very attractive... for someone working in Tescos."