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Byline: Cynthia L. Webb

The exposure of Janet Jackson 's breast during the Super Bowl halftime show last night is getting beaucoup press attention this morning, but it's Pepsi 's attempt to piggyback on the music downloading controversy that's the talk in tech and entertainment circles this morning.

The soft drink company used its Super Bowl commercial to tout a new promotion with Apple 's iTunes to give away 100 million songs in the form of a code on Pepsi bottle caps that let drink buyers download one song from the wildly popular e-music service. But where Pepsi crossed the line was in featuring a teenager who was slapped with a lawsuit by the Recording Industry Association of America for illegally downloading copyrighted songs. In effect, Pepsi is saying music piracy will not only get you free music, but potentially money-making endorsement contracts.

The Pepsi ad featured Annie Leith , who, along with her sister, "downloaded 960 songs over a three-year period using the popular Kazaa program," The Associated Press reported. Leith was targeted in the RIAA's legal blitz against piracy, and she ultimately settled the suit for $3,000. But "Annie couldn't pass up a chance to appear in a commercial that put a twist on her costly experience. .. In the ad, Annie proudly says she was among hundreds of music fans sued for downloading songs without paying for them, then vows to continue doing so -- on iTunes." * The Associated Press via Canada.com: Downloading Teen Lands Ad

But the Pepsi ad clearly sends a mixed signal, suggesting that downloading in any form is cool. Annie coyly talks about how she won't stop downloading and we're supposed to believe that she's just talking about downloading paid songs from iTunes. "We're still going to download music free off the Internet," the teen says, as recounted by CNET's News.com in a pre-game article. "And there's not a thing anyone can do about it." * CNET's News.com: No Longer 'Dot-Com Bowl,' But Game Still Super for Net

Don't count me as a fan of the RIAA's legal tactics, but is it appropriate to exploit a teen who admitted breaking the law? Critics were quick to weigh in with an answer to that question.

"It's bad enough that the RIAA targeted kids for their lawsuits but, it's worse to criminalize their behavior on national television just for the sake of a provocation, or to sell soft drinks and iTunes downloads," Josh Wattles , former acting general counsel of Paramount Pictures , told p2pnet. Silicon.com's coverage picks up on this contention as well. The Pepsi ad campaign "is likely to cause controversy among the anti-file-sharing lobby, which will see it as a case of music pirates being rewarded and afforded celebrity because of their criminal activities." The article also noted the ad came right as Coca Cola is launching its own online music service. * P2PNet.net: Ex-Movie Exec Slams iTunes/Pepsi Ad * Silicon.com: Apple and Pepsi Ad Insult To Injury For Coke and the RIAA

Madison Avenue, however, didn't see the ad as ethically questionable. The ad was framed by Green Day 's version of "I Fought The Law" and created by Omnicom' s BBDO , The Wall Street Journal said. "In the commercial, the youngsters declare they'll keep downloading -- but legally -- with the help of the Pepsi promotion. 'Topical, rebellious and has lots of attitude,' said Kevin McKeon , a creative director at Bartle Bogle Hegarty Ltd .'s New York outpost." Elsewhere, Eric Hellweg of Business 2.0 contends the ad will launch Apple into a new realm (a subscription is required for a whole read of his article). * The Wall Street Journal: Bud Bowl Ads Score Points (Subscription required)

From Dot-Bomb To Super Bowl Star?

Apple's iTunes was not the only technology company to make its presence known during last night's football extravaganza. A number of the commercials featured technology companies -- or firms that use the Web to further their brand's reach. America Online latched onto the "American Chopper" stars for its ads to tout an Internet accelerator service to make both dial-up and broadband service work faster. The cost of the ad play? An estimated $10 million, CNET said. "The struggling Internet service provider, the online unit of Time Warner, is attempting to brush off old impressions of the company's service by touting a faster Net service," CNET reported. Online job site Monster.com was another big game advertiser.

"In contrast to the Net's heyday, when the National Football League 's championship game was nicknamed the Dot-Com Bowl because of the huge number of ads from now-defunct Web companies, this year's advertisers are established companies that are trying to tap the Web's mass appeal," CNET noted. "Also, many marketers now reuse their ads on Web sites that can play video, such as MSN Video or ESPN Motion ." * CNET's News.com: No Longer 'Dot-Com Bowl,' But Game Still Super For Net (same link as above)

Legal Downloading No Cash Cow, So Far

John Mayer 's songs have been a hot commodity on Apple's iTunes service, with 161,000 copies of his singles selling on the service, The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday in an article that contended recording companies and musicians are going to have to be very patient for a pay off from legal music downloads.

More from the piece: "Mayer's download sales equate to only about 16,000 albums -- or a fraction of the 1.3 million copies that his latest CD, 'Heavier Things,' has sold for Sony Corp. 's Columbia Records , according to Nielsen SoundScan data. It all goes to show that record companies looking for paid downloads to fill the void left by dwindling CD sales may be in for a long wait. Global record sales dropped to an estimated $28 billion last year from a 1999 peak of roughly $40 billion. Paid downloads are rising on services such as iTunes, Roxio 's Napster and Real Networks ' Rhapsody but have barely begun to cover the shortfall. Industry analysts estimate that total U.S. sales from online music stores and subscription services were only about $60 million last year." The article pointed to Pepsi's new campaign as one way "label executives are trying to turn online sales into an everyday practice among consumers." * The Los Angeles Times: Online Song Sales, Though Rising Fast, Are at Most a Hopeful Blip (Registration required)

No Asian Replay

Movie piracy in Asia has forced Blockbuster to close its Hong Kong operations and kill plans to expand in China, the company said. "The company, a subsidiary of US media giant Viacom , entered the Hong Kong market in 1999 with the aim of tapping into a booming local film industry and using the territory as a gateway into the mainland," The Financial Times said "The move comes as Viacom is considering whether to offload Blockbuster, which is struggling with the decline of the video rental market in the United States. Viacom has held talks with several potential private equity buyers." * The Financial Times: Blockbuster Rewinds Expansion In Hong Kong, China * BBC Online: Asian Piracy Damages Blockbuster

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that Viacom is expected to make a decision within two weeks to spin off its Blockbuster unit since no deal has been inked with potential buyers. "The decision comes after Viacom explored selling Blockbuster last year amid increasing competition in the home video market from the likes of Wal-Mart and Netflix , as well as the threat that video-on-demand offerings by cable operators could make renting a physical DVD or VHS tape obsolete. Without a buyer, a spinoff, whose form has not been determined, is the most likely outcome," executives close to the deal told the newspaper. * The New York Times: Viacom Close To Decision To Spin Off Blockbuster (Registration required)

Taking on the Pirates

Intel , Matsushita Electric Industrial , Nokia and Samsung are expected to announce today a new "nonprofit group to license copy-protection technology for mobile devices and oversee its use, according to people familiar with their plans. The technology -- known generically by the phrase digital-rights management, or DRM -- is being supplied by an existing organization called the Open Mobile Alliance ," The Wall Street Journal reported today. "Many cellphone users download ring tones and games. Relatively few people download other digital content, such as songs or videos, despite the power and data-storage capacity of the latest handsets. One reason is that companies have held back content, out of fear of unauthorized file-sharing with phones. The new group, dubbed the Content Management License Administrator , hopes to help break that logjam." * The Wall Street Journal: Electronics Giants To Battle Piracy Of Digital Content (Subscription required)