The OJ Simpson special was (tragically) cancelled, after FOX was unable to find advertisers willing to run spots during the show.
This makes me sad, because I feel like it could’ve be a real opportunity for a random product to brand the hell out of something. Think about it. If you were a life insurance firm, a door-to-door cutlery sales company, or maybe even a new cartoon-offshoot novelty candy, you would get some serious word-of-mouth coverage afterwards, just by running about twelve ads in and around this disaster of an interview. For added impact, you could go overboard and sponsor the closed captions, pay for in-show scrolling banners, and negotiate other original ways to make sure your brand name was constantly visible on FOX for about one and a half hours.
If I had my own company (preferably one with an unlimited media budget and high tolerance for erratic behavior), I would’ve swiped all the ads FOX was offering ina last-minute fire sale, and turned that full sponsorship into something so overblown and ridiculous that people would be unable to resist talking about how insane it was. You just wait–one day, there will be a company that does something as idiotic as this suggestion, and it will work for them. And then we will all look back at this prophetic entry and hail me as the visionary that I know I am.
