I’m not sure when I first found out that this MTV election coverage thing was going to be called Street Team ‘08. Maybe it was in the early emails before the job was finalized, or maybe it was one of the surprises at orientation in New York. Who knows. (ETA: Turns out I’m an idiot; the political reporters have been called “Street Team” for a couple of cycles now. I thought it was a special name for us CJ’s.)

It’s not the name I would have voluntarily self-applied. When I think of “street teams,” I think of news stories I heard on Marketplace in the 90’s about this new guerrilla marketing trend; I think of those silly, obnoxious college girls who get paid to drive around in pimped out cars in tight outfits handing out free samples of Red Bull and crap.

But whatever the rationale, someone in the Viacom food chain of command made the call, and the company invested a decent amount of time and capital in this grand experiment.

Elsewhere in the corporate structure, somebody thought that idea sucked, and that opinion has become manifest in the Viacom empire on last night’s episode of The Daily Show. It’s about the last 90 seconds of this segment.



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