My previous comments on American Idol slanted towards appreciating the work Simon does. In this Slate piece by Rob Walker, I learned Simon has now taken a spot as a Vanilla Coke ad man.

This new Coke flavor made its debut last year and was pushed in a couple of spots featuring actor Chazz Palminteri as a mysterious, mob-like figure who dispenses samples of the drink in an obliquely threatening manner (see the old ads here on Coke's site). In the new ad, Cowell shows up alone at a dark and almost-empty restaurant. He is seated a table across from Palminteri, who, in full wiseguy mode, says that it would mean a lot to the Vanilla Coke brand if Cowell, "America's most notorious critic," liked the drink. Cowell tries it and starts to give his opinion, but Palminteri cuts him off. "Jimmy," he barks to a henchman, "tell him his opinion." The henchman holds up a cue card, which Cowell obediently reads. "We've got our first celebrity endorsement!" Palminteri says with a curt laugh, as Cowell's eyes dart about the room. The last shot has Palminteri with his arm around Cowell, who nervously says, "It's good."

[...]

Part of Cowell's appeal is that, like a soap opera villain, he's the type that people "love to hate." The goofy American Idol host regularly takes potshots at him, and when the guy he told to lose weight challenged him to a pushups contest, the audience went wild. But the rest of his appeal is best understood in the context of insult humor, from Don Rickles to the Conan O'Brien puppet Triumph. Even when cruel, the insulter can be funny, but more to the point he often says what others are thinking. On American Idol, the other judges always seem to look for something positive to say?they're full of BS, in other words. The result is that when Cowell says something nice, it actually means something. And perhaps on some level those tearful teenage wannabes got exactly what they deserved. Cowell, in other words, represents the asshole as truth-teller.

Sounds right to me.