Just how significant was the outrage over Janet Jackson and the Superbowl?

To date, the FCC has apparently received more than 200,000 complaints about the Superbowl halftime show.  That’s fairly unprecedented, given that the FCC apparently got 240,000 complaints about 375 different programs last year. Combined.  Many groups, like Concerned Women for America, would like us to believe that this represents a ground swell of nationwide outrage and activism about obscenity on television.

But let’s break it down.  Some 89 million people watched the Superbowl, and 200,000 complaints were received.  Hmm.  (sounds of calculator buttons in the background).  OK.  Twenty-two one-hundredths of one percent of viewers complained.  Or put the other way around, 99.9978% of Superbowl viewers didn’t feel motivated to complain about Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction.”  I had to extend the calculation out to four decimal places, otherwise rounding error would lead me to conclude that nobody was bothered by the event.      

Numbers are fun, aren’t they?

Comments

[nobody]

Try your math again. 99.78%.

[Mark]

Sorry...I was correct in words, but not in the numerals. 22/100ths of 1 percent is 99.78% when presented in digits, as "nobody" so tersely points out.