Janet’s boob did more than just piss of MTV, CBS, NFL and the conservative right. Janet’s boob has also irked AOL because, according to their sponsorship agreement with CBS, the agreement was supposed include re-broadcast over the Internet for a week or two following the game. Now that that’s not happening, NBC, who paid $10 million for the sponsorship wants a partial refund for that lost exposure.
While AOL may have lost some exposure, Janet’s breast is receiving worldwide notoriety courtesy of the same medium AOL was denied. With all that exposure, AOL would have been wise to launch a viral ad campaign that somehow incorporated the image of Janet along with AOL branding. So instead of “AOL Top Speed,” perhaps we’d have, “AOL Top Tit.” There must be a frustrated agency designer out there somewhere who’d love to do that, right? AOL could just deny it and ride the PUMA-like exposure which it would surely receive.
