2.03.2004

A Canadian perspective on the boob incident: Tom Shales of the Washington Post referred to the Janet Jackson Super Bowl episode (and the event's commercials, some featuring flatulent horses, a crotch-biting dog hawking beer, and a gruesome slasher movie) the "Super Bowl of Sleaze." But Todd Babiak, in a piece for the Edmonton Journal titled "Bare breast not nearly as offensive as cynical American jingoism," takes another tack:
Everyone was apologizing for the boob, a thematic replay of the Madonna-Britney kiss during the MTV Video Awards. However, no one apologized for the real outrage: the rest of the halftime show. From beginning to end, the spectacle was a 12-minute toilet flush of uninspired lip-synch performances anchored by a hymn to rednecks by Kid Rock....Halftime began with an MTV advertisement imploring Americans to vote, but Jackson's song, like the rest of the halftime show, was bland and cynical and joyless. Even with the nipple shield, Jackson's bouncing boob was the most honest and most challenging moment in the show.
While we're on the topic: From Advertising Age, "The Porno-ization of American Media and Marketing."

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