And the Nominees Are . . .
Big budgets, elaborate special effects, pop music, gratuitous social commentary--TV commercials have much in common with the prime-time programs they sponsor. To that list add an Emmy award. Five commercials have been nominated for that honor, the first time TV ads have been allowed to share the limelight with TV shows. And the nominees are:
* Product: General Motors EV-1
* Agency: Hal Riney & Partners of San Francisco
* Production company: Industrial Light & Magic
* The ad: Household appliances come alive and greet the electric car in a commercial that cost $1.5 million to make and aired in only four TV markets.
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* Product: Levi Strauss Wide Leg Jeans
* Agency: Foote, Cone & Belding of San Francisco
* Production company: Bay Films and Propaganda Films
* The ad: During a brief elevator ride, two young people wearing Levis fantasize about a life together while a soundtrack plays the Partridge Family tune “I Think I Love You.”
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* Product: Levi Strauss Wide Leg Jeans
* Agency: Foote, Cone & Belding of San Francisco
* Production company: Satellite Films
* The ad: An injured young man wearing Levis is brought into an emergency room, but soon he and the doctors are boogieing to the tune “Tainted Love.”
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* Product: Nike
* Agency: Wieden & Kennedy of Portland, Ore.
* Production company: Joint
* The ad: Tiger Woods says some golf courses won’t allow him to play because of the color of his skin, in a spot that stirred controversy when it was learned his golf coach worked at a course that did not allow women.
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* Product: HBO
* Agency: BBDO of New York
* Production company: Pytka
* The ad: Chimps in the wilds of Africa recite lines from movies they’ve been able to see by peering into the hut of scientist Jane Goodall.
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What ads do you like best, or least, and why? Send us your comments. You can e-mail us at adbiz@latimes.com, fax us at (213) 473-2480, leave a voice message at (213) 237-3341, or write to Advertising & Marketing, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053.
