First, let me say bravo to my friends at Unilever for once again setting the standard by further elevating female self esteem in their latest brilliant Dove (a Unilever brand) Real Beauty Sketches campaign.

If you listen to the TV and advertising industries' pundits, appointment TV is over. There are a few event TV opportunities each year - the Super Bowl, the Oscars, the Grammys, maybe the MTV Music Awards, and that's it, according these pundits. Otherwise, TV is a morass of niche audiences, and most viewers aren't even watching because they're intent on texting, tweeting, and "like"ing during the episodes.

As everybody with an Internet connection knows, bacon is the most wondrous and delectable thing ever to appear on the face of this planet. It's the universal sandwich solvent, the salt lick of kings. For a sponsor who wants to engage men through digital content, but doesn't want girls or sports, bacon has been the go-to meme as far back as anyone can remember. It's positively fatty with versatility: It's been weaved into underwear, it flavors dental floss, it makes you smarter and cures hangovers. Et cetera, et cetera.

What could make rushing to the airport, waiting in an endless security line, disrobing for a TSA pat-down, jamming your luggage into an overstuffed overhead storage bin, shoehorning yourself into a too-small seat, and spending several hours next to a chatty political junkie with a wet cough even worse?