Ad Track: Reel changes for Oscar ads

— -- For the first time in more than 30 years, the Feb. 22 Oscar broadcast will allow commercials for motion pictures. In the past, film ads were banned to keep "a clear line between the awards process and the advertisers that pay for the show," says Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spokeswoman Leslie Unger.

But last week, the academy's board of governors voted to lift the restriction — with a lengthy list of conditions for studios that do advertise films. Among them: No ads for movies that open earlier than the last week of April (more than two months later than the Feb. 22 telecast) and no mention of "Academy Award" or "Oscar" in commercials.

The academy can do this because its deal with ABC gives it veto power over ads in the telecast.

In other Oscar news: ABC has found a replacement carmaker after longtime sponsor General Motors pulled out. Hyundai has taken GM's six ad slots. Hyundai would not offer any specifics on what it will advertise or whether it paid, as GM did, to be the exclusive auto advertiser for the Oscars.

A 3 a.m. sales call

The ghost of Hillary Clinton's presidential bid is alive, well and snoring at 3 a.m. SnoreStop's new TV commercial spoofs the Clinton ad that questioned whether Barack Obama had the experience to handle a 3 a.m. call about a national crisis.

The new spot opens with a camera pan of the White House at night, followed by the sound of a ringing phone and very loud snoring. "It's 3 a.m. Who do you want answering that phone?" asks a narrator. As the snoring drowns out the ringing, another off-camera voice asks: "How about someone who can hear it?"

The ad, which began airing around 3 a.m. on CNN, ends with: "Vote for SnoreStop. Your wife approves of this message."

In case you have any money left

Sure, we need to get some green back into the economy — but given recent events, the Ad Team thinks bank customers may be more focused on the monetary kind than the environmental kind.

But that didn't keep Rhode Island-based Citizens Bank from last week launching ads for its "Green$ense" rewards for customers who go paperless.