Britney Spears Billboard Controversy, WFLZ Tampa, Todd Schnitt

BRITNEY'S GOLDMINE

Threatened Spears Suit Means Paydirt For Tampa Station







Is this the best marketing campaign by a radio station in years?

That's what some industry insiders are telling the Radio Equalizer about the just- removed Tampa- area billboards featuring a deranged looking Britney Spears next to WFLZ morning host MJ Kelli.

After it succeeded in enraging the washed- up pop star to the point where a suit was threatened, the flap exploded across the Internet and TV news programs, handing the station a nationwide avalanche of free publicity.

Though Spears has now succeeded in getting the billboards removed in Florida, the resulting controversy has done far more damage than she ever could have imagined. MJ Kelli, who also hosts an issues- oriented talk show as Todd Schnitt (his real name), says he isn't happy with the campaign's end, according to ABC7 TV / Los Angeles:

TAMPA, Fla., June 19, 2007 - Radio station billboards that featured unflattering photos of a bald, scowling Britney Spears have been taken down after the pop star's attorneys threatened legal action.

In a letter to Clear Channel Communications Inc. dated Thursday, Spears' attorneys accused the company of "offensive, unauthorized commercial exploitation" of the 25-year-old singer, and demanded that the three billboards in the Tampa area be removed. The letter was posted on The Smoking Gun Web site.

The billboards, advertisements for WFLZ FM's "The MJ Morning Show," depicted a bald Spears and show host Todd Schnitt along with the slogans "Total Nut Jobs," "Shock Therapy" and "Certifiable."

"We have confirmed that the billboards are down," Clear Channel spokeswoman Michele Clarke said Tuesday. She referred other questions to the Clear Channel offices in Tampa, whose representatives didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

"Clear Channel has removed the billboards, and I'm not happy with that," Schnitt told the St. Petersburg Times.

Had Britney only kept her lawyers from threatening Clear Channel, there's no doubt the billboards would have been seen by almost no one outside of the Tampa area. Was this part of a carefully calculated strategy by WFLZ, or merely a lucky break?


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