Some Good Has Finally Come From Seeing Janet Jackson’s Nipple: We Don’t Get to See Mickey Rooney’s Posterior
Philip Stone January 16, 2005
The idea was that Airborne, a cold remedy, would spend $1.15 million on a 15-second ad during the 2005 Super Bowl in which old-time Hollywood star Mickey Rooney sits in a sauna, he hears a cough, and as he rushes out he drops his towel and we see…. well, we see what we really don’t want to see of a 84-year-old man.
Fox turned down the ad for its Feb.6 Super Bowl airing, saying it did not meet its standards. The network said the refusal had nothing to do with the FCC’s $550,000 fine of CBS for the Super Bowl half-time show debacle last year in which for a split second we saw Janet Jackson’s nipple caused by what was explained as “wardrobe malfunction.”
|
The FCC has finally made it clear: One “F” word used by a star at a US televised awards ceremony is a no-no!
The print ad was plain, stark and simple. A giant stiletto heel skewering a businessman in his stomach as his blood poured on the floor.
On Veterans Day the ABC network screened Saving Private Ryan and 30% of the network’s stations declined to show the film, fearing FCC fines for excessive violence and bad language.
|
This is the same Fox network that is appealing a FCC record fine of $1.18 million for showing a program with repeated scenes of sex parties. If it thinks sex parties are okay, but Rooney’s behind is not, then maybe we should be very grateful they have decided not to screen the ad!
Perhaps closer to the truth is that Fox doesn’t want to attract any more FCC attention for what is a huge ratings blockbuster each year. Congress, decency lobby groups, and yes, even the FCC will be watching this year’s program with keen interest, ready to jump on anything that might be considered lewd. Fox just doesn’t need that kind of trouble!
Airborne has asked the FCC to rule that the advertisement is not indecent and to order Fox to run it. But the FCC has a rule that it only acts after a broadcast, so there will not be any prior indecency ruling.
 This is Andy Rooney and he is not smilingWhile some of this is like a big joke, there is a very serious side to the issue. A company spending $1.15 million for just 15 seconds of airtime wants something that will cause a buzz, to be written and talked about the next day in the media (maybe beforehand like this article substitutes?) and will cause the general public to talk for some time about what they saw. Whether they would have remembered the product’s name or just Mickey Rooney’s posterior we’ll never get to know.
Rider McDowell, Airborne’s co-owner, does push things a bit, however, when he claims there really is nothing different in showing Rooney’s posterior or a baby’s bottom.
Now, we’ve often seen proud parents kiss a baby’s bottom, but would you really want to kiss Mickey Rooney’s ass?
Not that one can blame Airborne for trying. During last year’s Super Bowl advertising got a bit of out hand. You had a Scotsman wearing nothing under his kilt, a dog that liked to bite where it really hurts, real monkey business, and a horse who … well, you just didn’t want to get near that horse. The Super Bowl is serious business with serious money at play. Pay that kind of money and you hope people remember not just the horse but the product as well.
The word from advertising houses this year is that even with record fees being charged -- $2.4 million for 30 seconds compared to $2.3 million last year -- the advertising is being toned down.
Since last year’s the off-the-wall humor didn’t travel well, advertising houses are reporting the ads will be more traditional this year. We won’t be seeing Janet again, but one of her great predecessors, Gladys Knight, will star in one commercial. There will be no wardrobe malfunction. Guaranteed.
| 