In his analysis of the group 's influence on 21st century popular culture two decades after their debut , John Mckie of the BBC noted that while other stars had used brand endorsements in the past , " the Spice brand was the first to propel the success of the band " . '' The Guardian '' 's Sylvia Patterson also wrote of what she called the Spice Girls ' true legacy : " T hey were the original pioneers of the band as brand , of pop as a ruthless marketing ruse , of the merchandising and sponsorship deals that have dominated commercial pop ever since . " The mainstream media embraced the Spice Girls at the peak of their success . The group received regular international press coverage and were constantly followed by paparazzi . Paul Gorman of '' Music Week '' said of the media interest in the Spice Girls in the late 1990s : " They inaugurated the era of cheesy celebrity obsession which pertains today . There is lineage from them to the Kardashianisation not only of the music industry , but the wider culture . " The '' Irish Independent 's '' Tanya Sweeney agreed that " t he vapidity of paparazzi culture could probably be traced back to the Spice Girls ' naked ambitions " , while Mckie predicted that , " f or all that modern stars from Katy Perry to Lionel Messi exploit brand endorsements and attract tabloid coverage , the scale of the Spice Girls ' breakthrough in 1996 is unlikely to be repeated — at least not by a music act . " The Spice Girls have been revered as the biggest pop phenomenon of the 1990s due to their international record sales , iconic symbolism and " omnipresence " in the late 1990s . At the 2000 Brit Awards , the group received the Outstanding Contribution to Music award to mark their dominance of the global music scene in the 1990s . The iconic symbolism of the Spice Girls in the 1990s is partly attributed to their era-defining outfits , the most notable being the Union Jack dress that Geri Halliwell wore at the 1997 Brit Awards . The dress has achieved iconic status , becoming one of the most prominent symbols of 1990s pop culture . The status of the Spice Girls as 1990s pop icons is also attributed to their vast merchandising and willingness to be a part of a media-driven world . Their unprecedented appearances in adverts and the media solidified the group as a phenomenon — an icon of the decade and for British music
2000 Brit Awards
2000 Brit Awards
Spice Girls