• Adweek, Wednesday, October 8, 2008 12 PM

Despite years of trying, the ad industry seems no closer to finding a reliable metric for determining the reach or value of a viral campaign. But there is one measurement few are likely to argue with: a mention during Jay Leno's opening monologue on The Tonight Show.

On Friday night, the late night host made an unlikely joke about Levi's "Unbutton Your Beast" site, which lets users create and send e-cards that show phallic "monsters" popping out of their jeans. Among the monsters users can choose from is "Paul the Pincher," who became the subject of Leno's joke: "Let me tell you something, if you've got a crab claw coming out of your jeans, you might want to unleash some penicillin."

Hardly a knee-slapper, but the Leno mention was certainly a welcome change from some of the publicity the site, Unbuttonyourbeast.com, had been receiving. Conservative blogs and news sites had latched onto the site since its launch--and after the Drudge Report linked to it--calling it "the raunchiest ad ever," "shocking and tasteless," "devilish advertising" that could lead to an Internet porn addiction.

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