Although a search on the Guiness World Records for "most expensive nipple" still yields no results, indications are that Janet Jackson will hold the record for a long time. She's already beaten everything else in several categories, including most-searched-for event on the Internet, surpassing 9/11 by 100%. The event has caused so much publicity that the FCC, the US federal agency in charge of broadcasting, has decided to increase the celebrity nipple exposure price ten-fold, from $27,500 per incident to $275,000 per incident, as reported in this article in Forbes. This will bring rates more in line with standard commercial advertising rates, which have been as high as USD 3 million, although that figure has dropped in recent years. The scent of money has also attracted both amateur and professional legal beagles, who hope to cash in with a multi-billion dollar class-action lawsuit. Although I didn't see the event, evidently Americans find Janet Jackson's nipple disgusting. From my experience, Europeans would probably disagree, so it's probably more of a cultural difference than an absolute fact.

Could this be what the US needs in order to stimulate the economy and provide more jobs? Time and voodoo economics will tell. But with this much cash pumped into the hands of FCC workers, lawyers, and consumers, spending could be up by Q4 2004.