More people saw the McCain Celebrity ad than Paris’ last movie
August 2nd, 2008 . by MartyMy last post about Paris Hilton’s family getting angered over the recent McCain ad definitely generated a firestorm in both the MSM and on the blogosphere - even a related lead story on The Daily Show. I, myself, have subsequently had several interview requests in the last couple of days, and I’m trying to oblige them all.
Naturally, some in the McCain campaign have taken me to task for stating the fairly obvious point that putting Paris Hilton in an ad had angered her very generous family members. But my associate Jimmy did the math:
The McCain Celebrity ad has been seen by over 1.3 million people - on YouTube alone. By comparison, only 3,911 people in America saw Paris Hilton’s last film, “The Hottie and the Nottie.” (US box office gross of $25,696 divided by average ticket price of $7.08) One could argue that the McCain ad was the best thing to happen to Paris Hilton since she started wearing underwear again.
And if the controversy surrounding it means that more people are watching the McCain ad, going to the McCain website and starting to talk about John McCain again since Obama’s so-called triumphant trip abroad, then it’s a good thing for the campaign, too, and has more than made up for the little friction with the Hilton family.
John McCain will smooth things over with William Barron Hilton and Rick Hilton. Their roots together are too deep to let a little mention of Paris get in the way. People forget that as twice chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committe, McCain has dealt with the Hiltons and their Indian casino interests for years (a decade ago, Hilton spun off its gaming operations into Park Place Entertainment, which subsequently became Caesars Entertainment - at one point the largest casino business in the world - and then sold to Harrah’s for $9 billion). Hilton Hotels - and its new owner, The Blackstone Group - of course, is still involved in the Indian gaming world. As well they should be.
