Part 36
As soon as the commercial break had started, Marcy stood up and turned to Carly Sands. She put out her hand, and Carly stood up and shook it. "Thanks so much, professor," Marcy said. "Your analysis was just great!"
"I'm glad I could help." She turned to Tim, who was distracted, and took a moment to realize she was going. He stood up and Carly gave him a prim handshake. "It was very nice meeting you, Mr. Johnson. I look forward to seeing your next commercials."
"I'll bet you do," Marcy said, as Tim and Carly both grew a little flushed.
When Emilia came up and offered to help Carly take her lapel mike off, Tim sat back down and turned to Shawna. "What's this about a contest? We never discussed any kind of contest!"
Shawna and Daniella both noticed his worried expression, and thought it made him look so cute. "Don't worry," Shawna said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I think you're going to like it."
"Why is this the first time I've heard about it?"
"Calm down, Tim," Danielle said. "We just thought of it last night, and we didn't have the details worked out until this morning."
"So we thought we'd surprise you," Shawna finished, then winked at him. "This will draw a lot of attention for the campaign."
Danielle's and Shawna's words, and Shawna's wink, only made Tim more nervous.
Meanwhile, Emilia and Carly had walked about 30 feet away from the stage, and then Emilia had gotten Carly's mike off. She saw that Carly was still looking at the stage, and at Tim, and said, "You can watch the rest of the show from the dressing and make-up room, if you'd like. There's a monitor in there that will be playing the live feed."
Then Emilia leaned closer to Carly, as if there was someone within hearing distance. "There's going to be a surprise that I REALLY think you're going to want to see."
Carly saw Emilia's slightly naughty smile, and said, "Oh. That's...OK. Thanks." She looked back at Tim one more time, and then Emilia escorted her down the hallway to the make-up room.
On stage, Kaitlyn had leaned over to Anna and quietly asked, "What contest is Shawna talking about?"
Anna said, "No idea." She looked at Mia and Julie. "Have you guys heard anything about a contest?" Both girls shook their heads.
"It doesn't look like Mr. Johnson has either," Julie said, thoughtfully. All four women guessed that they were going to enjoy the contest, whatever it involved.
"Okay," Debbie called out -- to the women on stage, and to both camerawomen and to Lauren in the booth -- "we're back on-air in one minute."
Everybody got ready, and Debbie counted them down.
Marcy said, "We're back with the cast and creators of the Naked Attraction body spray commercials." She turned to Danielle and Shawna. "Before the break you mentioned that you've got a new ad coming out, and that you've got some kind of contest, too. Tell our viewers about the contest."
"Well," Daniella said, "we mentioned that Naked Attraction had sold out in our area stores, but after some frantic re-orders, we've just gotten a limited supply back in most local stores."
"So to celebrate that," Shawna said, "and to bring more attention to our great product, we decided that we'd have a fun contest that our customers could participate in."
Tim looked from speaker to speaker, clearly not knowing what they were talking about. He saw that Marcy was smiling in a way that suggested that she knew something he didn't.
Danielle said, "Yes, we've come up with an idea that we think is in keeping with the funny and sexy approach of our Naked Attraction commercials."
"When you say 'sexy and funny,'" Marcy said, "I'm guessing that this contest involves Mr. Johnson?" The audience applauded, and Tim looked even more nervous.
Shawna smiled at Marcy, then looked at Tim, as she patted his forearm.
"Coincidentally enough, it does." Several hoots came from the crowd, and Shawna looked toward the bleachers for a moment, then back at Marcy. "If our second ad does as well as the first, we've got at least one more ad planned. We've got several ideas for it, but we thought it would be fun to give the ladies in our audience a chance to have small roles in the third ad."
Marcy said, "Do you mean our audience here in the studio today?" A rousing cheer came from the studio audience.
Danielle said, "Yes, them, but also those who are watching at home, or who watch our ads online."
Marcy said, "So how will this contest work?"
Shawna took that question, moving her hand to Tim's shoulder and patting it possessively. "Well, we're calling this the "Take the Shirt Off His Back" contest."
Over the audience applause, Marcy said, "I like the sound of that!"
Danielle laughed. "First, anyone who wants to be in the contest needs to buy a bottle of Naked Attraction, of course. Then, for the next week, Mr. Johnson here will be going all over town, just doing routine, everyday things. Shopping, eating, whatever. The first three women who spot him, and spray a little Naked Attraction on him, get to take the shirt off of his back, and they will be eligible to get a spot in our next commercial."
Shawna explained more. "We've only got small roles for three people in the next commercial. So if a group of two or three ladies spots Mr. Johnson the first time, they'll have to draw straws to see who gets the spot in the commercial. Once three different women or groups of women have spotted Mr. Johnson and taken the shirt off of his back, the contest will be over."
"This sounds pretty easy," Marcy said. "Is he going to be in disguise in some way?"
"No," Shawna said. "He may wear a hat or sunglasses, or something like that. But he won't be wearing a disguise. Just everyday clothes, trying not to call extra attention to himself."
Marcy said, "So you're saying that the women in our audience shouldn't be looking for him to be walking around with the seat of his pants missing, like in the commercial?"
That brought some applause from the crowd, and Tim could feel the heat in his face as all the women around him laughed.
"No, nothing like that," Danielle said. "He'll just be wearing regular street clothes."
The audience was buzzing with excitement, and Marcy decided to egg them on. "I love the idea of a 'take the shirt off his back' theme. But I'll bet your contest would raise even more interest if you went a little bit farther."
"What do you mean by that?" Shawna asked.
"Well," Marcy said, looking at her eager audience, "If 'take the shirt off his back' is good, wouldn't 'take the pants off his backside' be even better?"
The wave of applause and cheers from the audience startled everyone on stage, and Tim found himself shaking his head vigorously before he even realized it.
"Marcy, you're so bad!" Shawna said, playfully scolding her.
"That's going too far," Danielle said. "Mr. Johnson has been a good sport, but that would be asking too much."