Lewinsky Ads Cut Close to the Bone
Monica Lewinsky can no longer change history, but boy, can she move product!
The advertisers who shelled out ABC's steep $800,000 tag on a half-minute
commercial for Wednesday night's "20/20" were rewarded with the attention
of a whopping 50 percent of the nation's working TV sets. "That's a Super
Bowl-league audience," says TIME TV correspondent Richard Zoglin. "Hence
the prices." But for anyone paying more attention to the ads than the interview, the array of products being touted read like a prankish
deconstruction of Lewinsky's story: There were diet pills, low-fat cookies and Diet
Dr. Pepper (advertised with a cheeky whiff of political scandal). Hair- and tooth-care products competed for attention with romantic movies and pizza, Internet services,
painkillers and -- who would've guessed -- Victoria's Secret.